By
Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. on March 16, 2021 at 7:30 AM
Photo: Courtesy of Raytheon Missiles & Defense
WASHINGTON: Raytheon will soon deliver the Army’s first “production readiness” model of the new LTAMDS radar, in time for key tests this summer. By next September (2022), the first six early-model LTAMDS should have passed initial Army testing. That will allow the Lower-Tier Air & Missile Defense Sensor, to use its formal name, to be approved for “Urgent Materiel Release” to Army missile defense units.
If Raytheon makes that deadline, it’ll have gone from initial contract award – in Oct. 2019 – to operational fielding in less than three years. That’s a remarkable pace for the Pentagon, made possible in large part by using the streamlined Other Transaction Authority process instead of traditional contracting regulations.
Consider it the military’s version of speed to market.
Military agencies are adopting some of the same software development techniques that commercial tech companies use to innovate and iterate quickly. And, they’re doing it not to boost sales, but to stay ahead of attacks that move faster than anything in the history of warfare.
“You don’t want to be deployed to the middle of the ocean and learn that there’s a new threat you aren’t prepared for,” said retired U.S. Navy Capt. Steve Lott, a former commanding officer of the guided missile cruisers USS Vincennes (CG-49) and USS Chosin (CG-65), and now a director of requirements and capabilities at Raytheon Missiles & Defense.