Raytheon announced major milestones bringing an upgrade of Patriot Air and Missile Defense System radar with Gallium Nitride-based Active Electronically Scanned Array radar closer to production phase.

Raytheon is funding an upgrade to the Patriot radar as more advanced drones, aircraft, and ballistic missiles are likely to become a greater threat. The upgrade is a Gallium Nitride-based AESA technology, which uses three antenna arrays mounted on a mobile radar, allowing coverage in all directions. Ralph Acaba, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business, says the upgrade will balance more coverage with mobility.

"The Raytheon-developed GaN-based AESA radar builds on the more than $150 million invested in GaN technology, and will be a simple upgrade for the more than 220 Patriot fire units fielded by the U.S. and the 12 other Patriot partner nations," Acaba said. "This upgrade is approved for export to all current Patriot partners and a number of future Patriot partner nations such as Poland. It enables 360-degrees of protection, while retaining Patriot's mobility and reducing operation and maintenance cost by as much as 50 percent."

Milestones reached include the completion of the AESA main array structure, the radar's shelter, integration of receivers and radar digital processor into the shelter, and testing of the radar's cooling sub-system.

Currently, 13 nations around the world use the Patriot system, including five NATO countries.