2023 Missile Defense Agency Budget: $75 Million for Alaskan “Long-Range Discrimination Radar”

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By Kris Osborn – President & Editor-In-Chief, Warrior Maven

The 2023 Missile Defense Agency budget is prioritizing defense against hypersonic missiles by funding its now operational Long-Range Discrimination Radar, a next-generation, highly sensitive radar system intended to help disguise actual threats from decoys and debris. 

Long-Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR)

Several ICBMs can present even more of a problem for defenses, as seekers can at times be at a loss to track multiple threats simultaneously. Defenses can struggle to distinguish an actual warhead-carrying ICBM from a decoy, debris or even non-lethal parts of the missile breaking off in-flight to release a reentry vehicle

The MDA budget allocates $75 million for the Alaska-based LRDR and $165 million for Sea-Based X-Band Radar.  ”This advanced radar achieved initial fielding in December of 2021 and is a critical mid-course sensor that improves missile defense system threat discrimination capability and also allows for a more efficient use of the ground-based mid-course defense system,” Dee Dee Martinez, Comptroller, Missile Defense Agency, told reporters according to a Pentagon transcript.

The LRDR is described in an MDA essay as a “massive array” that is both 60ft high and 60ft wide and draws upon gallium nitride technology to increase radar power and discrimination technology.

MDA officials explain that the budget also includes funding for supportive systems needed to enable the LRDR.