The US Navy has approved a new $146 million contract to continue using long-range surveillance radars to track suspected terrorist and narcotics gangs operating in waters of the United States, the Raytheon Company announced in a press release on Wednesday.
“Raytheon Intelligence & Space, a Raytheon Technologies business will continue operating and maintaining the US government’s Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar (ROTHR) system under a $146 million, five-year contract,” the release said.
Originally developed to track long-range targets for aircraft and ships, ROTHR is now the primary detection system for border security and drug smuggling interdiction for the Joint Interagency Task Force South, Raytheon said.
In 2020, ROTHR contributed to the seizure of 26 metric tons of cocaine from drug smugglers trying to cross into US territory, it added.
The contract covers operations and maintenance at six ROTHR locations in Puerto Rico, Texas and Virginia. Each radar provides more than 2.5 million square miles of coverage area, resulting in extremely low operational costs, according to the release.
