Raytheon Technologies

The AN/TPY-2 radar defends against the growing ballistic missile threat. AN/TPY-2 serves as the eyes of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, known as THAAD.

Southern Arizona’s largest private employer lands a federal contract government worth $2.3 billion.

Tucson is home to Raytheon Missiles and Defense, and that’s where some of the work will take place. The contract is for seven gallium nitride (GaN)-based AN/TPY-2 radars designed to protect against incoming missile threats. The system can detect ballistic missiles after they launch and guide interceptors toward a missile’s warhead. 

“These highly capable X-band radars are the sharpest eyes in the global missile defense system,” Bryan Rosselli, vice president of strategic missile defense at Raytheon Missiles and Defense, said in a news release.

The contract with the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is part of a foreign military sale to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In addition to Tucson, work on the radars will be performed in Woburn, Massachusetts; Huntsville, Alabama; and Fullerton, California.

Raytheon employs about 13,000 people in the Tucson area.