The House Armed Services Committee’s (HASC) Strategic Forces subcommittee mark proposal for the Fiscal Year 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would require the Army Secretary to to report on Patriot missile defense needs amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine and report on obsolescence issues with Patriot.
The mark, released June 7, includes a section with a sense of Congress that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “has highlighted the importance of lower tier air and missile defense capabilities in the European Area of Command.”
It also notes the president’s emergency supplemental appropriations request for the Ukraine situation in FY ‘22 included funding for a 16th Patriot air and missile defense system battery, whereas the U.S. currently has an inventory of 15 batteries.
The mark noted if Congress approves of a 16th Patriot battery it would also have 3,376 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Missile Segment Enhancement (PAC-3 MSE) missiles.
Therefore, the mark would direct the Secretary of the Army to assess and validate the battery and interceptor acquisition objectives for the Patriot air and missile defense system as well as the PAC-3 MSE missiles within 120 days of the bill being enacted.
The mark also directs the Secretary to submit a report to the congressional defense committees on the assessment within 30 days after completing the assessment. The report would include whether the acquisition objectives are valid or should be modified.
Separately, the mark directs the Army Secretary to brief the committee by Dec. 1 on pending obsolescence needs in the Patriot modernization program.
The briefing would include a summary of all funded and unfunded obsolescence requirements through the five-year long Future Years Defense Program as well as an “analysis of which unfunded obsolescence requirements are needed to mitigate risks associated with spares demands assuming notional air and missile defense OPTEMPO increases of (a) 10 percent, (b) 25 percent.”
The mark’s report said while the committee is encouraged by the Army’s commitment to the next generation Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) program for the future integrated air and missile defense radar, “the committee is also cognizant of the need to continue investing in Patriot system and missile modernizations as it will take at least 7 years for the Army to field its total requirement of the Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS), and at least 11 years to fully field LTAMDS.”
Raytheon Technologies [RTX] is developing the LTAMDS as the next generation radar for the Patriot system while Northrop Grumman [NOC] built the IBCS.
Over that 11 years, the Army and partner countries will operate a “significant number of legacy Patriot system components” but they will need to keep pace with stresses with an “unrelenting operations tempo.”