Marines choose RTX Raytheon for medium-range anti-air missile that integrates radar and infrared sensors

Summary points:

• MRIC is designed to counter cruise missiles and drones in contested environments like the Indo-Pacific.
• System integrates Israeli Tamir interceptor with U.S. radar and command systems.
• Initial MRIC platoon to be outfitted by fall; full deployment across three battalions is set for 2026 to 2028.

QUANTICO MARINE BASE, Va. – The U.S. Marine Corps needed a medium-range anti-air missile system to detect, track, identify, and defeat enemy cruise missiles and unmanned aircraft in and around attack beaches. They found a solution from the RTX Corp. Raytheon segment in Tucson, Ariz.

Officials of the Marine Corps Systems Command at Quantico Marine Base, Va., announced a $32.5 million contract in late July to RTX Raytheon for the quick-turnaround Medium Range Intercept Capability (MRIC) program.

MRIC is for mobile attacking forces and fixed sites in contested environments like the Indo-Pacific theater. It is a rapid prototyping program to develop short-to-medium range air defenses.

The contract asks RTX Raytheon for 44 sets of long-lead items for MRIC full-rate production, spare parts and upgrades to earlier prototype systems. Long-lead items either are difficult and time-consuming to obtain, and are funded early to keep overall production on schedule.

Tell me more about why to integrate radar and infrared sensors ...

• Integrating radar and infrared (IR) sensors produces a more complete and reliable picture of a target to improve detection, tracking, and identification. Radar works in all weather and lighting conditions, penetrates fog, clouds, and some camouflage, and measures range and velocity via Doppler shift, while infrared sensors detect heat signatures; can identify targets by their heat signatures; provide high-resolution imagery for target recognition; do not emit a detectable signal like radar does. Radar detects movement and range, while infrared can classify and identify targets.

The medium-range MRIC integrates with the Marine Corps Ground/Air Task-Oriented Radar (G/ATOR) and the Common Aviation Command and Control System (CAC2S), and borrows technology from Israel’s Iron Dome -- particularly the Tamir missile interceptor, which has a 43-mile range, with possible extended versions in development.

The MRIC guidance systems consist of the G/ATOR radar for 360-degree coverage for detecting and tracking targets; the CAC2S for command, control, and communications; the Israeli Tamir interceptor with radar and infrared sensors for guidance.

MRIC relies heavily on digital signal processing (DSP) for its radar and infrared sensor to detect and track several aerial threats at once. DSP enables MRIC to filter, analyze and synthesize radar signals to identify threats, and is critical for target discrimination, threat identification, and real-time situational awareness.

The DSP capabilities in MRIC are part of what makes it capable of responding quickly to complex fast-moving threats in contested environments.

Mid-range air defense

MRIC can defend against several kinds of aerial threats launched simultaneously and from different angles. It is trailer-mounted and can carry as many as 20 missiles in four levels of missile pods.

The Marines are moving forward with fielding MRIC to re-establish mid-range defense capabilities they have been without since retiring the MIM-23 Hawk missile batteries in 1997.

MRIC initial operating capability was last year; full-rate production begins this year; and the Marines will outfit an initial platoon with MRIC by this fall. All three of the Marine Corps Low Altitude Air Defense Battalions will receive MRIC launchers, missiles, and support equipment between 2026 and 2028.

On this contract, RTX Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz., and should be finished by November 2027. For more information contact RTX Raytheon online at www.rtx.com/raytheon, or Marine Corps Systems Command at www.marcorsyscom.marines.mil.