RTX has announced a $100 million investment to expand its Raytheon facility in Rhode Island, responding to increasing demand for advanced air and missile defense capabilities. The funding will enhance testing capacity for the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radar and increase production of Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical (GEM-T) components at the company’s Portsmouth site.
The expansion will enable additional testing of the LTAMDS radar, a next-generation sensor developed to detect and track sophisticated threats, including hypersonic weapons. Raytheon is currently producing LTAMDS systems under contracts for the US Army and Poland. The facility will also scale up manufacturing of components for the Patriot PAC-2 GEM-T interceptor, which is employed by Patriot air defense systems to engage aircraft, cruise missiles, and tactical ballistic missiles.
The investment reflects a broader trend among US defense contractors to expand industrial capacity in response to rising military requirements. Earlier this year, L3Harris Technologies committed $25 million to enlarge its Huntsville, Alabama, operations and support solid rocket motor production through an additional 130,000 square feet of manufacturing space. Other recent initiatives include Rajant’s planned expansion of its Kentucky Defense Manufacturing Innovation Hub, Ultra Maritime’s enlarged naval radar production facility in North Carolina, and BAE Systems’ $135 million modernization program across sites in Texas and New Hampshire.
