Raytheon delivered a new radar to the Missile Defense Agency recently, the company said in a statement last week. The Defense Department now has its first AN/TPY-2 radar with a complete gallium nitride- populated array, which allows it to track smaller objects at greater distances. (Raytheon)
A radar system that can track missiles flying five times the speed of sound has been delivered to the U.S. military, marking a major upgrade to one of its most essential missile defense systems.
The new version of the AN/TPY-2 radar comes with a complete gallium nitride-populated array, allowing it to track smaller objects at greater distances, manufacturer Raytheon said in a statement last week announcing the handover of the first system to the Missile Defense Agency.
It’s the most advanced version of AN/TPY-2 that the company has built, said Sam Deneke, Raytheon’s president of air and space defense systems.
The agency first awarded Raytheon a $14.9 million contract in 2016 to incorporate gallium into the radar system. In 2020, the company received a $2.3 billion contract for seven gallium nitride-based radars as part of a foreign military sale to Saudi Arabia.
The radar system has long been the primary tracking device for Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems, or THAADs, which are deployed in several other countries, including Israel.
Both Russia and China have highly advanced hypersonic missile arsenals, and Iran claims to have developed similar capabilities.
In March, a think tank report said the U.S. must make development of hardware to counter hypersonic missiles a national priority to alleviate what it called an “unacceptable asymmetry.”
“Russia has developed and deployed a nuclear-armed hypersonic weapon that holds the U.S. mainland at risk from a highly survivable nuclear first strike,” Atlantic Council report author Michael E. White said.
The same month the report was issued, the Missile Defense Agency and the Navy conducted a successful hypersonic missile defense test near Hawaii, tracking a simulated projectile from the USS Pinckney.
Protecting against hypersonic missiles has been a key point of discussion in President Donald Trump’s initiative to install a defense system known as the “Golden Dome” over the continental U.S.
The missiles can fly at speeds of Mach 5 or faster and are harder to detect than traditional ballistic missiles because of their low flight paths and ability to maneuver.
In recent years, the defense industry has turned to gallium-based semiconductors to develop advanced radar to track the high-speed projectiles.
The Missile Defense Agency has also been using gallium nitride as part of its effort to modernize radar capabilities in the Patriot defense system.
This is the 13th AN/TPY-2 radar the company has delivered, though it’s unclear when the other 12 will receive upgrades.
The agency’s 2025 budget called for an additional $29 million to support replacement of the outdated radars with the gallium nitride versions.
