Raytheon has completed all factory acceptance testing on its second Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) radar. The company shipped it ahead of schedule and under budget to the Missile Defense Agency at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., for final testing and acceptance.
"Completing this key milestone in the THAAD radar program moves us one step closer to providing an effective terminal missile defense capability to protect our country, our warfighters and allies from ballistic missile threats," said Pete Franklin, vice president, National and Theater Security Programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems.
"The second THAAD radar will undergo extensive user evaluations at White Sands Missile Range, leading toward maturing the THAAD weapons system for fire unit deployment."
The THAAD weapon system provides a critical capability to the Missile Defense Agency. Raytheon delivered the first THAAD radar and fire control and communications flight hardware to the MDA in November 2004 and January 2005, respectively, under a subcontract to Lockheed Martin.
The radar and the THAAD Fire Control and Communication component have demonstrated exceptional performance in successful THAAD system flight tests. Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor for the THAAD system.
The THAAD radar is an X-band, phased array, solid-state radar capable of search, threat detection and classification and precision tracking at extremely long ranges. The elements of the THAAD weapon system work together to detect, identify, assign, and destroy short-to-medium range ballistic missiles.
The THAAD weapon system is rapidly deployable anywhere in the world and will deepen and extend the combatant commander's ability to defeat ballistic missiles of all types and ranges in the terminal phase of flight.
