Breaking Defense
WASHINGTON — After years of delay, the Missile Defense Agency announced that the Long-Range Discrimination Radar (LRDR) — a foundational system for enabling President Donald Trump’s Golden Dome initiative to build an air and missile defense shield over the homeland — has for the first time tracked an ICBM-like target in a live test.
If a final analysis of the system’s performance shows that all the requirements have been met, the LRDR will finally be cleared for operational acceptance by Space Force. Built by Lockheed Martin, LRDR was initially fielded at Clear Space Force Station, Alaska, in late 2021, despite the fact that its capability to trigger the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system’s ballistic missile interceptors had not been verified.
