Raytheon said Tuesday it had completed the first round of testing of the radar antenna array for the U.S. Army’s Lower Tier and Missile Defence Sensor, a next-generation radar intended to counter hypersonic weapons.

The first round of testing was indoors, in a climate-controlled test range with performance evaluation based on simulated targets. The next testing round will be at an outdoor range against real-world targets.

Now that the first round is complete, the antenna array is being mounted on a precision-machined enclosure for integration and further evaluation.

“LTAMDS consists of a primary antenna array on the front of the radar and two secondary arrays on the rear,” which “work together to enable operators to simultaneously detect multiple threats from any direction, ensuring there are no blind spots on the battlefield, according to Raytheon.

The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon a $384 million contract in October to deliver six units of the LTAMDS radar.

The new LTAMDS radar will replace the U.S. Army’s Patriot radars and operate on the Army’s Integrated Air and Missile Defence network.

Raytheon finished building the first antenna array for the LTAMDS last month.

The army will reopen the competition during low-rate initial production (LRIP) and award the winner with a contract to build 16 LTAMADS radar systems.

Namely, the new radar needs to be able to defeat today’s threats such as cruise missiles, unmanned aerial vehicles, tactical ballistic missiles, and fifth-generation fighters, and “day after tomorrow threats” including additional countermeasures and weapons such as hypersonic glide vehicles.

Raytheon’s winning LTAMDS proposal is an active electronically scanned array radar with 360° coverage that is powered by gallium nitride and includes a digital receiver/exciter technology and digital beamforming software. The radar is designed to support the Guidance Enhanced Missile – Tactical Ballistic Missile and the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement and will have the ability to interoperate with future army weapons.