LTAMDS underwent eight flight tests of increasing difficulty designed to challenge and validate the radar’s capabilities against real-world threats. The successful results have led to the radar being officially designated as a programme of record and entering the production and deployment phase.
“This is an unprecedented achievement, with a development program of this magnitude transitioning from prototype to production and deployment at an accelerated pace,” said Tom Laliberty, president of Land and Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. “Our collaborative partnership with the U.S. Army and our broad base of industry partners has driven the historic execution of the LTAMDS program in record time, delivering advanced 360-degree integrated air and missile defense capability.”
The U.S. Army expedited the development process by using the Middle-Tier Acquisition authority granted by Congress to prototype and field LTAMDS more rapidly. Typically, defence programmes of this complexity can take over a decade to reach Milestone C status.
Raytheon has already delivered the first six LTAMDS systems under a 2019 contract and is currently producing eight additional units annually. Production is set to increase to 12 units per year to meet growing global interest.
The company plans to deliver the seventh and eighth radars later this year, including systems for both the U.S. Army and Poland. Poland has become the first international customer to incorporate LTAMDS into its air and missile defence architecture.
Raytheon also reports that around twelve other countries are actively seeking information on LTAMDS, with pricing and availability details currently being shared. This indicates a growing international interest in the radar’s advanced defence capabilities.
Source: RTX (press release).
