Raytheon has been awarded a $218,530,196 contract by the US Missile Defense Agency to complete the assembly and delivery of 29 Standard ...
Raytheon has been awarded a $218,530,196 contract by the US Missile Defense Agency to complete the assembly and delivery of 29 Standard Missile-3 Block IB missiles.
Launched off U.S. Navy ships, SM-3 interceptors protect the U.S. and its allies by destroying incoming short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats by colliding with them in space.
Final assembly will take place in Raytheon's new, state-of-the-art Redstone Missile Integration Facility in Huntsville, Alabama. Guidance sections and guidance units will be built at the Raytheon Missile Systems Space Factory in Tucson, Arizona.
The SM-3 does not contain an explosive warhead, but instead destroys the threats using sheer impact, equivalent to a 10-ton truck traveling at 600 mph.
"The three back-to-back successful SM-3 Block IB flight tests have demonstrated the missile's advanced capabilities and reliability against various threats in a variety of mission scenarios," said Dr. Taylor Lawrence, Raytheon Missile Systems president."Combatant commanders around the world are eager to build up their inventories in support of Phase 2 of the Phased Adaptive Approach starting in 2015."
Source: www.raytheon.com
