MDA approaches industry for Golden Dome missile-defense radar able to discriminate warheads from decoys

Summary points:

• The Missile Defense Agency is requesting industry input on a mobile theater-based radar to support the Golden Dome system, aimed at defending the U.S. against incoming ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles.
• The proposed system will combine space-based sensors, AI-driven processing, interceptors, and directed-energy weapons to protect against missile attacks from adversaries including Russia, China, and North Korea.
• The radar must track several threats simultaneously, including decoys and jammers, across long ranges and different missile types, be HEMP-hardened, quickly deployable, and integrated with existing battle management systems.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – U.S. missile defense experts are reaching out to industry for a new radar to help defend the American homeland from enemy ballistic missile attacks.

Officials of the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in Huntsville, Ala., issued a request for information (MDA25SNRFI06) last week for a theater ground-based radar to support the proposed Golden Dome nationwide missile-defense system.

The new radar is to acquire, track, and discriminate incoming enemy ballistic missiles to the U.S. The radar is to be mobile, and not a fixed-site radar, and may consist of several phased array panels.

Golden Dome is a proposed U.S. missile-defense system to provide a layered shield over the Continental U.S., Alaska, and Hawaii that protects against ballistic, hypersonic, and cruise missiles.

Golden Dome radar

Golden Dome, announced early this year, is to deter and protect against missile attacks from adversaries like Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran. It will consist of orbiting sensors, space-based interceptors, directed-energy weapons, artificial intelligence (AI) sensor processing, and sea- and land-based interceptors.

Discriminating real missile warheads from decoys -- especially during midcourse flight -- remains a largely unsolved technical problem. This is where the Theater Ground Based Radar comes in.

MDA officials want to complete the first radar by the end of 2028, with two additional radar systems finished by the end of 2029. Demonstration will be through modeling and testing by hardware-in-the-loop testing.

For ballistic missile defense, the radar must have a sensitivity of -10 decibels relative to one square meter (dBsm) target at a 1,400-mile range, with a 15 decibel signal to noise ratio with single pulse dwell time of no more than 10 milliseconds.

Tell me more about Golden Dome ... 

• Golden Dome is a conceptual nationwide missile-defense system aimed at protecting the U.S. homeland, which will integrate several radar, interceptor, and command-and-control systems. It may involve ground-based radars, interceptors, and space-based sensors, and draws inspiration from Israel's Iron Dome, but on a larger, strategic scale to address intercontinental and theater ballistic missiles.

For demonstration, each ballistic missile target will contain one or more re-entry vehicles, spent boosters, decoys, jammers, and debris. The radar must be able to detect, tract, and react to at least 24 incoming ballistic missile targets.

Against incoming maneuvering hypersonic missiles, the radar must demonstrate sensitivity of -20 dBsm target at a range of 233 miles, with 15 decibel SNR with single pulse dwell time of no more than 2.5 milliseconds. Each hypersonic missile defense target will contain one glide body, decoys, and jammers. The radar must be able to detect, tract, and react to at least 10 incoming hypersonic missile targets.

Against low-altitude cruise missiles, the radar must have a sensitivity of -20 dBsm target at a 124-mile range, with a 15 decibel signal to noise ratio with single pulse dwell time of no more than one millisecond, against as many as 24 incoming cruise missiles.

The radar system should be capable of interfacing both with the MDA C2BMC and Army IBCS battle management systems, should be transportable, and should be set up in 24 hours or less. It will have a modular build-block antenna architecture with cost-effective subscale arrays. Two people should be able to operate the radar.

Software and cyber security

The radar should offer remote loading of software, operating system, cyber security patches, mission profiles, and updates.

The radar system should be High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) hardened, and provide mitigations against electronic warfare (EW) jamming. It should be able to operate round the clock for at least 90 days.

Companies interested should email unclassified responses no later than 8 Sept. 2025 to [email protected], with a copy to [email protected].

Email questions or concerns to the MDA's Erica Barbee at [email protected]. More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/63871c6e99b04f9088f98eb95c68db1f/view.