On Thursday, March 26, 2026, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA), based in Huntsville, Alabama, acting on behalf of the Department of Defense, awarded two contracts with a combined value of 966,700,000 USD to Raytheon (a subsidiary of RTX) under the AN/TPY-2 mobile X-band phased-array ballistic missile defense radar program.
Photo: RTX
The first contract, valued at 773,500,000 USD, is a modification increasing a previous base contract from 1,472,000,000 to 2,246,000,000 USD and extending research and development work from October 30, 2027, to October 31, 2030.
The second contract, valued at 193,200,000 USD, is also a modification increasing the base contract from 145,930,819 USD to 339,130,819 USD, covering the replenishment of spare parts and the continuation of radar development support, with completion scheduled for October 31, 2030.
The contracts were awarded following the recent destruction of one such radar by Iran, which had been supporting the advanced THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile defense system. This reportedly occurred on March 1, or during the night of February 28, in a missile attack on Muwaffak Salti Air Base in Jordan, located near Al-Azraq ash-Shamali in the Zarqa Governorate.
The loss of the radar was significant for the United States, as most of these systems are components of eight THAAD batteries in the U.S. Army, out of a total of thirteen delivered.
The AN/TPY-2 (Army/Navy Transportable Radar Surveillance and Control – Series 2) mobile X-band phased-array ballistic missile defense radar is capable of improved target detection and discrimination between real threats and non-threatening objects such as decoys. When operating in terminal mode, the AN/TPY-2 is directly integrated into the THAAD fire control loop through direct communication with the system’s interceptor missile.
RTX is currently delivering upgraded radars, worth approximately USD 500 million, incorporating gallium nitride (GaN)-based transmit/receive modules, which increase the antenna’s instrumental range and accuracy. This technology offers key advantages over other semiconductors in terms of energy efficiency, weight, and output power. According to RTX, the new technology also enables the detection of hypersonic threats.
Export users of these radars, as part of THAAD batteries, include Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (Iran has also attempted to destroy such systems at Prince Sultan Air Base and Al-Ruwais, although this has not been confirmed).