Raytheon Completes Key Milestone for US Army's NextGen Short Range Interceptor

July 15, 2026

Raytheon, an RTX (NYSE: RTX) business, successfully demonstrated the company's Next Generation Short Range Interceptor (NGSRI), designed to replace Raytheon's Stinger® surface-to-air missile for the U.S. Army.

Multiple guided missiles were launched using the company's soldier-portable Command Launch Assembly (CLA) during the demonstration. Each shot showed the NGSRI system's ability to detect, track and intercept Army-simulated aerial threats with direct hits and target destruction.

The system's advanced performance is driven by the CLA and missile seeker's precision optics, paired with an innovative highly loaded grain solid rocket motor manufactured by Northrop Grumman. Together, these technologies significantly extend NGSRI's engagement range beyond current systems.

"Raytheon's NGSRI saw farther and locked faster, demonstrating superior target acquisition, longer range and greater lethality than Stinger – which is already the world's most in-demand and shoulder-fired air defense system," said Tom Laliberty, president of Land and Air Defense Systems at Raytheon. "Our NGSRI solution builds on Stinger's historic global success by being easier to build and field, resulting in a more capable, affordable and rapidly producible weapon."

Over the past year, Raytheon has conducted several company-funded tests  to prove and enhance NGSRI, along with two incremental demonstrations under contract with the Army.

NGSRI is a U.S. Army program to develop a short-range missile that will eventually replace the Stinger system. The missile will be able to be fired from a vehicle or shoulder-mounted launcher. As the manufacturer of the Stinger missile and launchers, Raytheon is working to ensure full interoperability of NGSRI with both new and existing mounted platforms.

Raytheon's NGSRI design leverages more than 60 years of air defense experience to deliver the world's most advanced shoulder-launched air defense missile for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. The company's use of modular system design and automated manufacturing enables faster development and production.

Source : Raytheon Company