Exclusive: New US Army LTAMDS Air Defense Radar Successfully Detects and Tracks Cruise Missile.

On February 7, 2025, the U.S. Army successfully demonstrated the capabilities of its next-generation Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) during a critical missile flight test (MFT) conducted on February 7, 2025. The test, executed by Program Executive Office (PEO) Missiles and Space, showcased LTAMDS’s ability to detect, track, and classify a Cruise Missile threat surrogate while operating as part of an integrated air and missile defense network.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The new U.S. Army Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor LTAMDS is a radar system that detects and defeats advanced threats, including ballistic and hypersonic weapons.  (Picture source: U.S. Army)

The LTAMDS (Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor) is an advanced air defense radar system designed to detect and defeat aerial threats, including cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and hypersonic weapons. Developed by Raytheon Technologies, LTAMDS is the first in a new family of GhostEye® radars, offering a significant upgrade over the legacy Patriot radar system. As threats evolve, including the emergence of hypersonic weapons traveling faster than a mile per second, LTAMDS is engineered to provide the U.S. Army with greater situational awareness, improved threat tracking, and enhanced engagement capabilities.

During the test, LTAMDS successfully detected, tracked, and classified the incoming Cruise Missile threat surrogate, demonstrating its ability to function in full 360-degree surveillance mode. It was fully integrated with the Integrated Battle Command System (IBCS), a networked command-and-control platform that enhances the Army’s air defense coordination. Once the threat was classified, IBCS calculated the optimal engagement solution, facilitating the successful launch of a Patriot Advanced Capability-2 Guidance Enhanced Missile – TBM (PAC-2 GEM-T). The PAC-2 GEM-T, an advanced interceptor designed to counter tactical ballistic missiles and maneuvering air threats, successfully engaged and destroyed the cruise missile target using targeting data from LTAMDS’s primary radar array.

LTAMDS represents a dramatic advancement over the legacy Patriot radar system, incorporating next-generation sensor and tracking technology to address modern and emerging threats. While the original Patriot radar primarily relied on a single forward-facing array, LTAMDS features three fully integrated antenna arrays—a primary front-facing array and two secondary arrays positioned at the rear. These three arrays work together, providing full 360-degree coverage and allowing the system to detect and engage multiple threats from any direction simultaneously—a capability not available in previous Patriot radars.

Another key improvement is power and sensitivity. While the primary array of LTAMDS is roughly the same size as the original Patriot radar, it delivers more than twice the power, significantly enhancing its detection range and tracking precision. This additional power enables faster threat identification and more accurate missile engagements, ensuring a higher probability of intercepting complex and fast-moving targets such as hypersonic missiles.

Additionally, LTAMDS is designed for seamless integration with the U.S. Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD) system, ensuring that it can operate effectively within a networked defense environment. Despite its advanced technology, LTAMDS is also compatible with existing Patriot missile systems, ensuring that military operators can transition smoothly without losing their previous investments in Patriot air defense infrastructure.

The success of this latest test highlights LTAMDS’s critical role in the future of U.S. air and missile defense operations. As enemy missile technology becomes more advanced and unpredictable, LTAMDS provides the U.S. Army with an adaptable, high-performance radar system capable of countering next-generation threats.

By replacing aging radar technology, LTAMDS enhances the Army’s capability to detect and respond to modern threats, including stealth aircraft, maneuvering cruise missiles, and hypersonic weapons that traditional systems struggle to track. The program is a key part of the Army’s broader modernization efforts, aimed at creating a fully networked, multi-layered missile defense system capable of countering sophisticated adversaries.

Following this successful test, additional trials will continue to refine LTAMDS’s performance before its full deployment with operational units. This milestone marks a significant step forward in strengthening the Army’s air and missile defense architecture, ensuring the protection of U.S. forces and strategic assets against evolving global threats.