Pending Patriot Radar Replacement Competition Heats Up
Jen Judson, Defense News 9:14 a.m. EDT August 16, 2016
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The competition is heating up for two missile defense industry giants Lockheed Martin and Raytheon as the Army’s deadline for accepting future integrated air-and-missile defense radar concepts from industry came to a close Monday.
Both companies are promising radar designs that can be fielded quickly and at agreeable price tags.
The Army has long grappled with when and how it will replace its current air-and-missile defense system — Raytheon’s Patriot — first fielded in 1982. And, at one point, planned to bring on the Lockheed Martin-made Medium Extended Air Defense System as the chosen replacement. But the Army canceled its plans to acquire the system. As part of a trinational development agreement with Germany and Italy, the service finished its proof-of-concept development phase and shelved the technology. Germany still plans to develop and acquire MEADS.
(...SNIPPED)
