The US Army is dividing the phases of testing a future missile defense radar

Описание: The U.S. Army has begun developmental testing of its future missile defense radar in a new, two-phased approach, according to Brig. Gen. Frank Lozano, the service’s program executive officer for missiles and space.

The Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS, will serve as the radar in the Army’s future Integrated Air and Missile Defense system. Congress mandated that the Army field an LTAMDS battalion of four sensors by December 2023.

The Army has since made progress with the LTAMDS program, Lozano told in an interview at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium here. The service received the six required prototypes from Raytheon and completed contractor verification testing a few weeks ago, he said, adding, “That went very well.” Five of the systems are at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, and the sixth remains with Raytheon at its Andover, Mass., facility for testing.

The service has now begun developmental testing, but will proceed in two waves, Lozano explained. The LTAMDS radar has three arrays; a main one and two in the back that give it the ability to see threats from 360 degrees. “Last year, when I first came on board, through some system engineering reviews, we realized that trying to do all 360 degrees of tracking was too much to take on at once,” he said.

As a result, the first year of testing will focus on the main array and the second year, in 2024, will be dedicated to full-sector capability testing, incorporating the back two arrays, Lozano said.

In order to meet congressional requirements, the Army is providing the first four LTAMDS prototypes to the formation designated as the “first unit equipped” with primary sector capability by December 2023, Lozano said. That step will provide “residual combat capability” that already “exceeds legacy radar capability,”he said.