The U.S. military seeks new interceptors to strengthen base air defense, Boeing Anduril and Lockheed Martin advance to bid

The IFPC Increment 2 launcher of the U.S. military's "Enduring Shield" air defense system participated in the "Freedom Shield 26" exercise at Osan Air Force Base in South Korea in March this year. (Taken from U.S. Army DVIDS)

[Reporter Tu Jumin/Comprehensive Report] The U.S. Army continues to strengthen its base air defense capabilities and is looking for a second interceptor missile with a longer range and stronger performance for the "Enduring Shield" system. Foreign military news website reported that Boeing teamed up with Anduril and Lockheed. The two major teams of Lockheed Martin have advanced to the next stage of the IFPC Increment 2 second-type interceptor competition; the Iron Dome Tamir interceptor derivative proposed by Israel's Rafael has been eliminated.

The foreign military news website "Army Recognition" reported that the U.S. military's current "Enduring Shield" uses AIM-9X "Sidewinder" missiles. Each set of launchers can be configured with 3 groups of 6 magazines, with a total of 18 prepared projectiles. It mainly intercepts drones, cruise missiles and other targets. However, facing threats with faster speed and longer range, the U.S. Army hopes that the new interceptor missile will expand the engagement range, but at the same time, the high reserve capacity of 18 missiles cannot be greatly sacrificed due to the large increase in missile size.

Boeing and Anduril's plan uses Boeing's developed seeker and Anduril solid rocket motor, and introduces a modular open architecture to facilitate future upgrades of the seeker, avionics and software. Boeing has not yet disclosed the range, speed and warhead performance, but stressed that it will take into account both the engagement distance and the "bomb depth" in case the enemy launches a sustained or saturation attack with drones, cruise missiles and other weapons.

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The new bomb will still be integrated into the "Enduring Shield" and the "Integrated Battlefield Command System" (IBCS) in the future, with target information provided by sensors such as the "Sentinel" radar. Its positioning is not to replace the "Patriot" missiles, but to allow the more expensive high-rise interceptors to focus on ballistic missiles, and then let the IFPC deal with cruise missiles, drones and other threats. This requirement is particularly important for U.S. military bases in the Indo-Pacific such as Guam, and is expected to improve sustained defense capabilities in the face of multiple waves of air attacks.