The long-serving radars form the outermost layer of the nation’s missile-defense architecture. The upgrades are intended to improve performance and reliability and keep the sites supporting early warning and space monitoring for decades.
“Digitizing these radar systems is essential to staying ahead of increasingly complex global threats,” said Sam Deneke, president of Air & Space Defense Systems at Raytheon. “Raytheon’s technical approach enables faster deployment of new capabilities that will support the Space Force’s effort to extend the performance and mission utility of these strategically important sites.”
Raytheon will work with the Space Force and industry to develop a common open architecture. That approach is intended to simplify maintenance and future upgrades while avoiding dependence on a single vendor.
The company’s rapid-development approach will establish a common technical baseline across the radar portfolio. Prototype solutions will be followed by rapid fielding at the remaining locations.
The announcement did not disclose the award’s value or name the sites involved. It also gave no schedule for completing the prototypes or deploying the upgrades.
