The U.S. Army’s new missile defense radar has landed in Guam and is preparing to be put to the test.
The Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS, arrived in Guam earlier this month with Army Secretary Dan Driscoll visiting Task Force Talon, the unit that will manage the LTAMDS radars on the island, over the weekend.
Defense News broke the news earlier this year that the Army would be sending the Raytheon-developed LTAMDS prototype radars to the strategic island as part of a larger effort initiated by the Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George. The Army hopes to test the advanced technology in real-life formations even before the development phase has formally concluded.
“Our soldiers on Guam are at the tip of the spear for homeland defense and deserve the very best,” Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told Defense News in a statement.
“We deployed the brand new [LTAMDS] radar to exercise in an operational environment. This radar will significantly improve the range and lethality of our weapon systems,” he said. “We’re thrilled to test it in the [Indo-Pacific Command] region and continue making improvements as it comes online.”
The Army is already beginning to integrate the sensors for testing and experimentation in order to continue to refine its capabilities in a real-world environment rather than within the confines of a testing range in the U.S.
The Pentagon is in the midst of developing a robust air-and-missile defense architecture to defend Guam from evolving threats.
LTAMDS is slated to be a part of a comprehensive air-and-missile defense shield, which is currently under development on the island.
As the hostilities posed by China continues to grow, the Defense Department had pledged to deliver a foundational capability to help stave off a potential attack directed at Guam by the end of 2024. That schedule has slipped.
Guam is an island of nearly 170,000 people that sits in a vulnerable position — it is closer to Beijing than it is to Hawaii. The island plays host to a significant amount of U.S. combat power and would therefore be an attractive target for China in the event of a war in the Taiwan Strait.
LTAMDS joins the Army’s major missile defense asset there, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, or THAAD, which has been deployed to Guam since 2013.
The service developed LTAMDS to replace the current radar in Patriot air-and-missile defense systems, improving its detection and discrimination capability and giving it the ability to see threats from 360 degrees.
In addition to the two prototypes on Guam, the Army also plans to send another LTAMDS radar to Guam in 2027.
The Army approved LTAMDS for low-rate initial production in April. The service has been working to replace its aging Patriot system for over 15 years, initially running a competition for a full system before canceling those plans in favor of developing a new command-and-control system and radar separately.
The service awarded Raytheon a contract in 2019 to deliver prototypes over five years. Building the radar rapidly was an ambitious challenge and the Army decided to keep the sensor in testing for an extra year to ensure it was fully mature and ready for prime time.
LTAMDS went through eight major missile flight tests along with roughly 10,000 hours of other testing, including radiate time, radar tracking time and testing against wind, rain, dust and road marches. The system is expected to reach full-rate production in 2028.
This fall, LTAMDS will participate in operational testing on Guam as part of the Army’s Transformation in Contact initiative that puts new capability directly into the hands of soldiers that will operate it prior to formal fielding in order to further to refine the system and inform how it will be used in realistic operations.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.