The Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radar systems being produced by Raytheon Technologies received a significant boost with the delivery of radar processing hardware from contractor Mercury Systems. The hardware enables completion of the first six LTAMDS systems, which provide the detection capabilities to guard against advanced long-range threats, including ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Mercury Systems has provided radar processing systems to Raytheon for the Patriot radar systems (see image above) since 2009.
The LTAMDS radar is the U.S. Army’s latest air and missile defense sensor operating on the Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense network. It provides 360-degree detection capabilities with the aid of active electronically scanned array antennas. The electronic phase-tuned antennas can detect almost instantaneous threats, including hypersonic missiles. The expanded suite of advanced electronic systems being provided by Mercury for the LTAMDS radars includes the radar processing platform, the beamforming platform, Ethernet switching hardware, and high-power amplifiers for the antenna array.
Regarding teaming with Raytheon on the LTAMDS radars, Mitch Stevison, executive vice president and president of Mercury’s Mission Systems division, said, “We are extraordinarily proud to meet our initial commitments to the LTAMDS program, which will play an enormous role in the safety and security of the United States and our allies for years to come.”
In terms of the design efforts required for the program, he added, “The leading-edge processing technologies we pioneered for this program represent a major step forward for integrated air and missile defense.” Raytheon Technologies was awarded a $384-million U.S. Army contract in 2019 for the design and development of the LTAMDS radar systems.