The Missile Defense Agency will soon have available a deployment-ready AN/TPY-2 ballistic missile defense radar to help counter the more than 6,300 ballistic missiles outside of U.S., NATO, Russian and Chinese control.

Raytheon has delivered a cooling equipment unit (CEU) -- a crucial component of the AN/TPY-2 radar -- more than 14 months early, supporting demand for this critical missile defense asset.

The early CEU delivery, and an MDA contract awarded for AN/TPY-2 logistics support, will enable MDA to shift assets, if needed, to meet a growing warfighter and combatant command demand for the AN/TPY-2 radar.

If called upon, MDA will now be able to operationally deploy an AN/TPY-2 system that has recently been employed in a string of successful missile defense tests.

An integral part of the Ballistic Missile Defense System, AN/TPY-2 is a mobile, X-band phased-array radar that protects the U.S., warfighters, and America's allies and security partners by searching, acquiring and tracking threat ballistic missiles and discriminating between threats and non-threats.

"Raytheon's AN/TPY-2 radar is a critical element in defending against the growing ballistic missile threat," said David Gulla, vice president of Global Integrated Sensors for Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business.

"Giving MDA the flexibility to quickly deploy an additional, operationally-effective AN/TPY-2 is an important step toward meeting the growing demand for this vital radar."

The AN/TPY-2 may be deployed globally in either terminal or forward-based mode. In terminal mode, the AN/TPY-2 serves as the search, detect, track, discrimination and fire-control radar for the THAAD weapon system, enabling the THAAD missile to intercept and destroy threats.

In forward-based mode, the AN/TPY-2 cues the Ballistic Missile Defense System (BMDS) by detecting, discriminating and tracking enemy ballistic missiles in the ascent (boost) phase of flight.

AN/TPY-2 is a high resolution, mobile, rapidly deployable X-band radar capable of providing long-range acquisition, precision track, and discrimination of all classes of ballistic missiles, from short-range ballistic missiles to intercontinental ballistic missiles.

+ AN/TPY-2 has performed flawlessly in both terminal and forward-based mode in all major tests.

+ On Oct. 25, 2012, two AN/TPY-2 radars - one terminal and one forward-based - participated in FTI-01, the MDA's largest and most complex exercise. In a complex raid scenario involving multiple targets, both radars met or exceeded all test objectives.

+ Forward-based AN/TPY-2s in Japan, Israel and Turkey are currently enabling the protection of the U.S., deployed troops, and U.S. friends and allies from the growing threat of short-, medium- and long-range missiles.