{"id":14545,"date":"2018-10-31T17:48:20","date_gmt":"2018-10-31T17:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/10\/31\/armys-missile-defense-radar-sense-off-attempts-to-hit-reset-button\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:56:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:56:17","slug":"armys-missile-defense-radar-sense-off-attempts-to-hit-reset-button","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/intel-geoint\/sensors\/2018\/10\/31\/armys-missile-defense-radar-sense-off-attempts-to-hit-reset-button\/","title":{"rendered":"Army\u2019s missile defense radar \u2018sense-off\u2019 attempts to hit reset button"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Army formally announced its plan to conduct a missile defense radar \u201csense-off\u201d<\/a> to replace the aging Patriot<\/a> that will be included in its Integrated Air and Missile Defense system (IAMD) under development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The purpose of this sense-off seems to be designed to hit the reset button on the Lower Tier Air and-Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) program that has struggled to bring about a new radar for well over a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But will this effort right the ship for the program, or send it further off course?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Raytheon-made Patriot air and missile defense radar was first fielded in the 1980s, and the Army attempted to replace the system with Lockheed Martin\u2019s Medium Extended Air Defense System, or MEADS, through an international co-development effort with Germany and Italy. But that program was canceled in the U.S. after closing out a proof-of-concept phase roughly six years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, the Army has studied and debated how to replace the Patriot radar <\/a>with one that has 360-degree detection capability, while Raytheon continues to upgrade its radar to keep pace with current threats. It is acknowledged that there will come a point where that radar will not be able to go up against future threats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking years to decide, the service finally moved forward on a competition to replace the radar<\/a> last year and chose four companies to come up with design concepts for the capability \u2014 Raytheon, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Technovative Applications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this month, Raytheon and Lockheed were chosen to continue technology development <\/a>under that program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tabula Rasa <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Army acquisition chief Bruce Jette told Defense News just prior to the Association of the U.S. Army\u2019s annual conference that the service wanted to hold a sense-off to identify available radar capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to an Oct. 29 notice posted to the Federal Business Opportunities website, the sense-off will take place between May and June next year at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico. Each vendor with a radar will have roughly two weeks on the range to demonstrate capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sense-off is a separate effort to the technology development program in which Lockheed and Raytheon have been chosen to participate, and any vendor in the industry can come with a capability ready to be demonstrated, opening competition back up to the entire radar industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army is holding an industry day event Nov. 14-15 for interested parties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it seems, according to the Army\u2019s new lead for AMD modernization, Brig. Gen. Randall McIntire, that the sense-off is a way of identifying means to redefine requirements to more rapidly pursue a radar replacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McIntire\u2019s outfit is part of the Army Futures Command \u2014 activated in August and based in Austin, Texas \u2014 that is designed to aggressively modernize the force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of different approaches to it,\u201d McIntire told Defense News in a Oct. 30 interview. \u201cIt gets back to, I think, we were being too over-specific. [The Army] was really tying its hands, so we would like to see if there is a better way of doing it and it would be like best of breed, it would be like the best athlete. We are trying to get the best thing that we can get.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are pretty excited to see what we get from having a clean slate, and we are very hopeful that we are going to find something that is going to have increased battlespace.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the result of the sense-off, the Army plans to choose one vendor to build six prototypes by the end of fiscal 2022 to prove the whether the radar can be manufactured, according to the solicitation. A follow-on contract for additional radars is expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But McIntire said if there is more than one option that proves extremely promising during the sense-off, it\u2019s possible a second vendor could be chosen to build prototypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get the best that we can and buy smaller quantities, and then buy more of the next best thing,\u201d McIntire said. \u201cIt\u2019s really not about these long-term development programs that take 10-15 years to work their way through the cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army also has an eye on a next-generation sensor that would be fielded around 2037, but the service can\u2019t wait that long for a new capability, according to McIntire.<\/p>\n\n\n\t