The House Armed Services Committee’s defense authorization bill for fiscal year 2017 would hold back 50 percent of funds allocated for the Patriot missile defense system until the U.S. Army comes up with a plan to replace the system’s radar, Defense News reported Monday.
Jen Judson writes HASC would also require the service branch’s chief and secretary to assess whether the acquisition of a new radar would be feasible through the Army Rapid Capabilities office as well as prepare the terms of the competition for the procurement of the new radar.
According to Defense News, the military branch is set to conduct a competition for the new radar that would be integrated with its Integrated Air and Missile Defense platform.
Raytheon‘s gallium nitride active electronically scanned array radar and Lockheed Martin‘s Medium Extended Air and Missile Defense System radar are potential options for the new radar, Judson writes.
Sydney Freedberg Jr. also reported for Breaking Defense that the HASC tactical air-land forces subcommittee’s markup of the 2017 defense policy bill would also allocate $5 million in additional funding for the evaluation of the Army’s ground-based anti-ship missiles.
The proposed legislation would also require a study designed to assess the installation of the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System onboard the U.S. Navy’s amphibious ships and request for $10 million in additional funding to support research and development work on land- and sea-based electromagnetic railguns, Freedberg reports.
