According to a May 20 report on the website of the U.S. "Defense News" weekly, Raytheon Company announced on Monday that it had delivered the first missile defense radar to the Missile Defense Agency of the United States. This upgraded radar has the capability to track hypersonic weapons. Raytheon said that the Missile Defense Agency of the United States has long been using the AN/TPY-2 radar to track ballistic missiles, but the upgraded radar adopts a full gallium nitride array. The new AN/TPY-2 X-band radar is the 13th system delivered to the agency, but the first one using this technology. It will become part of the 8th Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system of the U.S. Army. These radars can be used in forward-deployed mode to provide cueing data for systems such as the Navy's Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System or the Army's Patriot Missile Defense System. It is the main radar of the Army's THAAD system. Gallium nitride technology has been integrated into the low-tier air and missile defense system radar of the U.S. Army. The radar was approved for low-rate production last month and will serve as a new tracking sensor for the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System. John Norman, vice president of Raytheon responsible for aviation and space defense system requirements and capabilities, told Defense News that Raytheon has its own gallium nitride factory in Andover, Massachusetts, and has been working on developing this capability for decades to double the performance of the radar. "Its sensitivity and detection range are doubled. Its efficiency is incredibly high," he said. "Now we can see incoming targets and distinguish them." The gallium nitride radar has higher resolution and can see when the warhead separates from the missile body and whether there are decoys. Norman added that it can more accurately distinguish actual threats from non-threat objects. Hypersonic weapons fly at speeds exceeding five times the speed of sound and are maneuverable during their glide phase, making them difficult to track. This means it is important to hit hypersonic weapons earlier and from greater distances. Norman said that the new radar "will enable them to engage these targets early in the engagement cycle." According to Norman, although the Missile Defense Agency of the United States is the first American entity to receive the AN/TPY-2 gallium nitride radar, Saudi Arabia is the first to receive the upgraded version. Raytheon is currently collaborating with the U.S. Army to study how to use the company's investments to upgrade its operational systems. Norman said they are also trying to address other modernization needs, such as integrating new computer components and signal data processing equipment to release space in electronic units, which will make maintenance and upkeep easier. (Translated by Xu Yanhong) Original source: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7507109900120785447/ Disclaimer: This article represents the author's personal views. Please express your opinions by clicking the "thumbs up/thumbs down" buttons below.