Raytheon announced Thursday it has been awarded a $424 million U.S. Navy contract – including options – to develop Standard Missile-3 Block IA and continue Block IB development, leading to sea-based missile defense deployment.
The Navy has issued initial funding of $96 million to support engineering services, engineering studies and technology development technical instruction efforts. the company said in a statement.
The SM-3 Block IA provides an incremental upgrade to improve missile reliability and supportability at a reduced cost. Block IB incorporates into the kinetic warhead an advanced two-color infrared seeker and a throttling divert and attitude control system providing additional capability against evolving threats.
SM-3 has transitioned from engineering development to manufacturing build process and is being built along with production SM-2s in Raytheon Missile Systems' factories in Tucson, Ariz., and Camden, Ark.
The SM-3 kinetic warhead is built and tested at a state-of-the-art kill vehicle manufacturing facility in Tucson, which enables the company to incorporate the best of spacecraft quality and high-rate missile manufacturing expertise. The entire upper stage including KW and third stage also is integrated in Tucson before going to Camden for all up round integration.
Raytheon's team on the SM-3 includes Boeing, Aerojet and Alliant Techsystems, and work on the system also will be conducted at Raytheon facilities in Anaheim and Sacramento, Calif., Camden, Ark., and Elkton, Md.
