MDA Seeks Mobile Radar Successor to AN/TPY-2 After Iran Targets Forward-Deployed Systems
The shift from semi-permanent emplacement to rapid mobility inverts the current THAAD architecture. AN/TPY-2s feed targeting data to both THAAD and Patriot systems; a mobile replacement that must break down and relocate within hours will demand new data-link protocols and command-and-control procedures.
RTX, which manufactures the AN/TPY-2, will be a bidder on FBM Radar Next, but the OTA mechanism favors smaller, agile contractors — Raytheon's traditional cost-plus posture may lose to a lean prototype shop. The real constraint is not the radar itself but the power generation: a fully mobile system cannot rely on trailer-mounted generators that take hours to set up.
Iran's destruction of at least one AN/TPY-2 during active combat exposed a critical vulnerability: the current radar, though trailer-mounted, cannot relocate fast enough to survive coordinated missile and drone strikes.
MDA is now racing to field a far more mobile successor before the next regional conflict, compressing a prototyping cycle that normally takes 4-6 years into 18-24 months via OTA. The two AN/TPY-2s in Japan and three more at Israel, Qatar, and Turkey remain in place — static targets if Iran or its proxies attempt another strike campaign. Watch whether the first prototype contract awards come before Q2 2027; if MDA slips past that gate, forward-deployed radars stay vulnerable through the decade.
How many AN/TPY-2s did Iran actually destroy or disable during the March-July conflict — the article says 'at least one,' but did the Pentagon release a full damage assessment?
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