Forecast International's "Market for Radars Systems" expects the value of radar production will total some $19.6 billion between 2002 and 2011, with Raytheon to garner $6.3 billion, or 32.2 percent, of that amount. The company's nearest competitor, Thales, is forecast to have an 18.5 percent share of the radar market, worth about $3.6 billion.

The top five players in the radar market - Raytheon, Thales, Northrop Grumman, BAE Systems and Ericsson - should garner roughly $15.9 billion, or nearly 80 percent of the total ten-year market.

According to the new report, radar continues to be a major part of a combat aircraft's avionics suite, battlefield command network, and ATC system. Radars have become part of an overall data-fusion scheme that exploits major developments in infrared and electro-optical sensor technology.

Because of this data fusion, sensor systems no longer rely on radar alone, so the network is less vulnerable to countermeasures. A future requirement will be higher mobility long-range surveillance radars to decrease their vulnerability to attack.

"Many radar systems are being upgraded rather than replaced when it is cost-effective to do so, affecting new system development and procurement," said senior electronics analyst Kernan Chaisson, the report's author.

"The next ten years of production for radars is expected to remain generally stable, with the top five companies having established such a commanding position that major changes in the overall shape of the industry are not likely, while teaming arrangements on various programs are becoming the norm."

Thales and Raytheon, for example, have agreed to a multi-national partnership, an air defense company which will be known as Thales Raytheon Systems. This transoceanic team will further ensure the standing of the parent companies in the market.

Today's radars depend on advanced signal processing to get much more precise target data. Reliability improvements have made operations from more remote, less accessible outposts possible, so maintenance personnel require less frequent access, and early warning and battlefield defense networks are being extended and enhanced so they can be moved further forward.

Radars, like aircraft, are being made stealthy by reducing the energy emitted by antenna sidelobes through antenna design and using electronically steerable, phased-array apertures.

Electronic counter-countermeasures remain paramount for fire control radars operating in environments where their radio-frequency emissions can leave them vulnerable to jamming and advances in electronically scanned antennas make them the apertures of choice for the next-generation fighter and attack aircraft. A fourth-generation active array is under development for the Joint Strike Fighter, and designers are working on a fifth generation.

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