Raytheon

Integration is mission-critical for air and missile defense

(BSC/ Raytheon) In the face of today’s escalating global missile threats, a fully integrated approach to defensive measures has never been more critical. In a recent statement before the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, the former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, asserted, “Ballistic missiles continue to pose a threat as they become more survivable, reliable, and accurate at greater ranges. Potential adversaries are basing more missiles on mobile platforms at sea and on land.” Such dangers require zero-fail defense mechanisms capable of matching and eliminating these threats at an affordable cost.

An effective air and missile integrated defense operational concept starts with threat assessment and situational awareness. It must extend across all domains: air, land, sea and space. There is no magic bullet. An array of solutions must work together to provide layered defense within the military theater of operation. “While, many of our international customers ask for complete solutions, others have indigenous capabilities and request Raytheon to integrate their platforms into the architecture,” said Tim Glaeser, vice president, Business Development for Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. “We’re equipped to address either scenario, and are experts at supporting all sides of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense equation.”

Raytheon collaborates with partners across the globe in its mission to keep the U.S. and its allies safe from missile threats. This point was underscored when, just a few weeks ago, in a large-scale, multinational exercise, a Raytheon-made Standard Missile-3 successfully engaged a ballistic missile target fired from a U.K. range in the Outer Hebrides near Scotland – the first time the interceptor was tested in European waters. The United Kingdom, United States, Canada, France, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Spain participated in the demonstration of interoperable ballistic missile defenses from participating navies. Numerous ships fired a variety of missiles to simultaneously defeat multiple targets.

Teaming with Japanese industry and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Raytheon is working to field the next generation Standard Missile-3 interceptor. Now in development, SM-3 Block IIA will provide robust capability against short, medium and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats. “Our partnership on this program is one of a kind,” said Dr Mitch Stevison, Raytheon’s vice president of Raytheon’s Air and Missile Defense Systems. “Once deployed, SM-3 Block IIA will provide an unprecedented level of protection from sea and land.” With an unprecedented success rate of nearly 90 percent, SM-3 represents the backbone of President Obama’s European phased-adaptive approach to ballistic missile defense, which started with the operational deployment of AN/TPY2 radar in Turkey.

The Army Navy/Transportable Radar Surveillance – Model 2 (AN/TPY2), a transportable, ground-based X-band radar system that helps defend against ballistic missile threats, is another example of how flexible technology from Raytheon can seamlessly integrate with missile defense solutions from multip

A Standard Missile-3 Block IA is fired from the “USS Lake Erie” on its way to destroy a medium-range ballistic missile target. Photo: Raytheon

le suppliers or serve independently as part of any anti-ballistic missile (ABM) infrastructure.

Ground-based radar sensors are just one example of how a company known for its radar heritage provides situational awareness. The Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS) uses aerostat technology to bring a top-down view to the big picture, lifting its sensor system as high as 10,000 feet to detect and track hundreds of airborne threats such as cruise missiles (among other threats), while extending the maximum reach of defensive weaponry for up to 30 days at a time.

The Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Space Tracking and Surveillance System-Demonstrator (STSS-D) program is poised to take ballistic missile defense to new heights, both literally and figuratively. STSS-D is a research and development capability that can detect and track ballistic missiles and other cold objects from a satellite in Earth’s lower orbit by relying on infrared and visible light sensors developed by Raytheon.