The Drive

The U.S. Army is exploring adding a second type of interceptor, capable of knocking down supersonic cruise missiles and large-caliber artillery rockets, to go with its future Enduring Shield Indirect Fire Protection systems. Enduring Shield is intended to provide an additional layer of defense against the ever-growing threats presented by cruise missiles, drones, and artillery rockets, and is already slated to fire the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile.

The Army’s Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM) at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama issued a contracting notice seeking information about a potential second interceptor for Enduring Shield on January 12. The Army selected the Enduring Shield system, which is being developed by Dynetics, currently a subsidiary of Leidos, as the winner of its Indirect Fire Protection Capability Increment 2 (IFPC Inc 2) program competition in 2021. IFPC Inc 2 is part of a larger Army push recently to improve the service’s short-range air defense capabilities (SHORAD), something that became a glaring capability gap in the years following the end of the Cold War.

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