The Joint Capabilities Board is scheduled to consider approving the U.S. Army’s Maneuver-Short Range Air Defense system requirements this spring, according to Col. William Parker, the service’s lead on air and missile defense modernization. The board brings recommendations to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council, which supervises the development of new capabilities and acquisition efforts, for final approval of program requirements.
The M-SHORAD system’s development took place in record time as the result of an urgent operational need identified in 2016 for the European theater. The Army received the requirement to build the system in February 2018. It took 19 months from the time the service generated the requirement to the delivery of prototypes for testing in the first quarter of 2020.
The first platoon to receive the M-SHORAD, a Stryker combat vehicle-based platform that includes a mission equipment package designed by Leonardo DRS and RTX’s Stinger vehicle missile launcher, deployed to Europe in 2021. The Army is now fielding its third M-SHORAD battalion at Fort Cavazos, Texas. The first M-SHORAD battalion remains in Germany, and the second is based at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
