US approves air defence radars for Kuwait, UAE

Photograph taken at Redstone Arsenal, Alabama shows a Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) radar to illustrate an announcement that it had completed a live-fire engagement as part of a series of ongoing developmental tests of the radar. (US Army Portfolio Acquisition Executive Fires)

The US Department of State's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs (BPMA) announced on 19 March that it has approved the sale of new ballistic missile defence radars for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait.

Kuwait has requested five Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor Radars (LTAMDS) and related equipment and services worth an estimated USD8 billion.

Currently entering service with the US Army, the LTAMDS was developed by Raytheon as an improvement on existing Patriot air defence radars, most notably giving them a 360° detection and engagement capability. Kuwait currently has seven Patriot batteries. Five were acquired after the Gulf war in the 1990s, and two had their Foreign Military Sales (FMS) authorisation in July 2012.

The BPMA said the UAE's request was worth an estimated USD4.5 billion and includes a “long-range discrimination radar” integrated with the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, two fire-control and tactical operations stations, two launch and control stations, related equipment and services, and 12 Sentinel A4 uplinkers for AN/MPQ-64A4 (also known as Sentinel A4) radars.

The UAE has previously received two THAAD batteries, but was not previously known to be considering the new A4 version of the AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel shorter-range air defence radar. The US Army received its first Sentinel A4 from Low-Rate Initial Production 2 (LRIP 2) on 2 February 2026.