Lockheed Tests Patriot Missile Link to Radar Information From Any Direction

Lockheed Martin has completed the first developmental flight test of a communications device designed to let Patriot interceptors receive radar information from any direction. During the test, the company’s Remote Intercept Guidance 360 system known as RIG-360 and a PAC-3 missile exchanged information in flight, according to Lockheed Martin’s program update.

The exchange advances a practical change in how the U.S. Army could connect an interceptor with its supporting sensor. RIG-360 is intended to provide communications across a 360-degree field, allowing a PAC-3-family missile to use the most suitable available radar even when that sensor sits outside conventional communication angles. In operational terms, the design is meant to reduce geometry-related coverage gaps rather than leave the missile dependent on radar access from a narrower direction.

The flight demonstration followed three captive-carry tests. In that test method, the equipment is carried aboard an aircraft so engineers can expose it to relevant flight conditions and collect data without proceeding immediately to a missile launch. It is an intermediate step between ground work and a free-flight demonstration, helping the team evaluate the hardware and communications equipment in a more representative environment.

Lockheed said the developmental flight occurred only weeks after a captive-carry event and also addressed the system’s maximum-range requirement. The company did not disclose the distance involved, performance measurements or the test dates, leaving no public basis for judging the link’s margin or reliability at that range.

Three milestones in less than two months

The program’s pace is notable. Lockheed said RIG-360 passed a critical-design review, a captive-carry test and the developmental flight test in less than two months. Those events arrived roughly a year after funding began for the initial engineering, manufacturing and development phase.

Each milestone answers a different development question. The design review examines whether the proposed system is mature enough to proceed toward fabrication, integration and testing. Captive-carry work then checks the equipment under flight conditions. The developmental flight moves beyond carriage by demonstrating an actual in-flight information exchange with the interceptor.

Together, those steps show that RIG-360 has progressed beyond a design concept. They do not yet establish field performance. Lockheed has not released operational evaluation results, communications success rates, environmental test findings or Army acceptance data. The company says the program is ahead of schedule for delivery and fielding, but it has not identified either date.

A better link still depends on available missiles and radars

RIG-360 addresses communications geometry, not the entire Patriot capacity equation. The device can broaden the radar directions from which an interceptor may receive information, but that benefit still depends on suitable sensors, qualified hardware and PAC-3 missiles being available where needed.

Interceptor supply is already receiving separate attention. In April 2026, the Army announced a $4.7 billion contract action with Lockheed Martin to support accelerated production of PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptors. The Army described the action as part of an effort to expand manufacturing throughput and improve munition availability, although its announcement did not specify how many additional interceptors would be delivered.

That production push supplies important context for supporters seeking stronger Patriot capacity, including those focused on Ukraine, but Lockheed’s RIG-360 update provides no Ukraine deployment plan or estimate of current interceptor availability. It also offers no operational assessment involving Russian tactics. What has been demonstrated is narrower and technically specific: a PAC-3 missile communicated in flight with a device intended to connect it to radar information from any direction.

The next consequential milestones will be Army delivery, fielding and operational evaluation. Until Lockheed or the Army discloses dates and measured results, RIG-360 remains an ahead-of-schedule development program with a successful in-flight communications demonstration not yet a quantified operational capability.

By David Whitaker — Associate editor for AMI’s aerospace and drone systems desk, translating flight systems, aircraft programs, spaceflight, and UAV developments into accessible technical stories.