US Army to boost air defence force by 30% with new tech and troops

The U.S. Army plans to expand its air and missile defence forces by 30%, according to Lt. Gen. Sean Gainey, commander of the Space and Missile Defence Command, quoted by US media.

Over the next eight years, the Army will add three Patriot battalions equipped with the new Lower-Tier Air-and-Missile Defence Sensor (LTAMDS) radar, five Indirect Fire Protection Capability (IFPC) battalions, and seven Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) batteries. These steps were outlined on August 5 at the Space and Missile Defence Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.

This growth aligns with the Army’s ongoing effort to enhance air and missile defence capabilities, driven by operational lessons learned from conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. There is a clear need for a more layered defence system able to counter diverse threats, including drone swarms.

The Patriot units currently operate at a very high tempo, prompting efforts to ease their burden. Expanding the Patriot force and introducing systems like IFPC and C-UAS will help address emerging threats such as drones, cruise missiles, rockets, artillery, and mortars.

The five planned IFPC battalions will support the Army’s goal to establish five Multidomain Task Forces (MDTFs), each assigned to a specific combatant command. These units will be equipped with Long-Range Fires Battalions featuring Mid-Range Capability and Long-Range Hypersonic batteries, alongside the IFPC battalions. The Army aims to complete this structure by fiscal year 2028.

Prototypes of the IFPC have already been deployed to South Korea to develop concepts for composite air and missile defence battalions.

Additionally, the Army plans to create a composite battalion integrating Patriot systems with LTAMDS radar and the Integrated Battle Command System, together with IFPC, to be part of the Defence of Guam architecture currently in development.

As part of its broad Transformation Initiative announced in May, the Army is also focusing on dramatically increasing its counter-drone capabilities. The fiscal 2026 budget request includes flexible funding specifically allocated for acquiring counter-UAS systems across the service.

By Tamilla Hasanova