RTX’s Raytheon to invest $100 million in Rhode Island to speed LTAMDS radar testing and Patriot GEM-T production

RTX’s Raytheon business said it will invest $100 million to expand its Portsmouth, Rhode Island facility, a move intended to accelerate testing of the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor, or LTAMDS. LTAMDS is a next-generation air and missile defense radar designed to defeat advanced threats, including hypersonic weapons, using three antenna arrays to provide coverage from multiple directions at the same time.

Raytheon said the Portsmouth expansion will increase capacity for LTAMDS testing and also boost production of Patriot GEM-T subcomponents. The GEM-T, or Guidance Enhanced Missile, is a Patriot interceptor variant intended to improve the system’s ability to defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and certain aircraft, complementing other Patriot missile types.

In describing the schedule, Raytheon said it is under contract for multiple LTAMDS radars for the U.S. Army and Poland, and that the program recently completed its ninth successful flight test. In that test, Raytheon said the radar used multiple arrays to track and intercept a surrogate target. The company also linked the Portsmouth effort to a broader ramp that began earlier this year, noting it broke ground about eight months ago on a separate $53 million radar facility expansion in Andover, Massachusetts.

Raytheon framed the Rhode Island investment as necessary to scale both testing and production as international demand grows. “Expanding in Portsmouth allows us to scale production, advance LTAMDS testing, and ensure the U.S. Army and our international partners receive these systems as quickly as possible,” said Tom Laliberty, president of Land and Air Defense Systems at Raytheon, according to the announcement.

The company said the Portsmouth project is expected to add about 150 high-tech jobs. RTX also said Raytheon and other RTX businesses have operated in Rhode Island for more than 60 years and currently employ more than 850 people in the state, with the Portsmouth campus supporting undersea technology, combat systems, and radars.

Defense analysts and government officials have been pushing for faster fielding of layered air and missile defense to address threats that can come from different angles, including low-altitude and high-speed targets. The U.S. Army has described LTAMDS as moving toward full 360-degree engagement capability and has cited recent flight-test results showing the radar’s ability to detect, track, and support an intercept through the Integrated Battle Command System.

Still, Raytheon did not disclose specific output targets tied to the $100 million spend, such as projected increases in testing throughput or the number of GEM-T subcomponents that will be produced. It also did not provide details on the portion of the work that will focus on new equipment versus workforce and process expansion, nor did it break out expected timing for different phases of construction.

Investors and procurement watchers may focus next on how quickly Raytheon converts LTAMDS testing capacity into production deliveries, particularly as the radar and interceptor ecosystem continues to move from development toward sustained deployment. Additional updates could come as the Army continues program milestones and as international customers such as Poland integrate LTAMDS into their air and missile defense architectures.