What does «AN/SPY-2» mean in Spanish?
- The AN/SPY-2 radar is a complement to the AEGIS battle management system radar; it provides new capabilities needed for ballistic missile defense that are not part of the main AEGIS AN/SPY-1 radar. It is the combat control radar for the SM-3 standard RIM-161 missile. Known as the High Power Discriminator (HPD), it provides long-range detection, tracking and discrimination of advanced theater ballistic missile (TBM) threats. Radar targets associated with such threats are very different in speed, geometry and distance than the aircraft and cruise missile targets for which the AN/SPY-1 is optimized. While physically mounted with the AN/SPY-1 on a Burke-class or Kongo-class destroyer or Ticonderoga-class cruiser, other radars, such as the Army's AN/TPY-2 transportable or the Navy's Sea-Band X-banded (SBX) ship used in BMD development, have some common characteristics. Other sensors, although not radars, complement the BMD mission by detecting the launch, such as the current Defense Support Program or the future Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS).