The contract modifications, which include options for up to $12 million, call for Raytheon to provide technical personnel and material to support the processing of Patriot missile rounds and the operation of the Patriot missile facilities, missile assembly/disassembly facilities and the Patriot missile transmitter facility. The modifications exercise $13 million in options for 2007 against the basic 2005-2006 contract award that now totals $43 million.

"It is very important to our country and our allies that our Patriot air and missile defense system facilities are in an optimal state of readiness to ensure that when our Patriot systems are needed, they provide premier air and missile defense capabilities," said Pete Franklin, vice president for Integrated Air and Missile Defense, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "This effort reflects the continued commitment by the Army and Raytheon to ensure our Patriot missiles continue to provide our warfighters with a cost- effective, premier, no doubt air defense capability."

This effort will be performed at Raytheon's Integrated Air Defense Center, Andover, Mass., IDS Headquarters, Tewksbury, Mass., and Raytheon Technical Services Company, Burlington, Mass., as well as in Texarkana, Texas, and overseas locations.

The facilities process Patriot Advanced Configuration-2 and Guidance Enhanced Missile-T (GEM-T) missiles for stockpile reliability testing, recertification and repair in support of the Patriot Field Surveillance program. The program is an international cooperative effort, in which foreign partners fund and benefit from common support. International partners include Germany, the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Japan, Israel, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, and Spain.

Raytheon IDS is the prime contractor for the Patriot system and the system integrator for the Configuration-3 system that includes the GEM-T missile. As the system integrator, Raytheon IDS ensures that all Patriot system components provide the warfighter a reliable and lethal capability to defeat the threats in current and future combat environments.

The Patriot Air and Missile Defense System is the world's most advanced ground-based air defense system and is a cornerstone of the U.S. Army's integrated air defense system. Patriot is a long-range, high-altitude, all- weather system designed to defeat advanced threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles and cruise missiles. Combat proven during Operation Desert Storm, Patriot can simultaneously engage multiple targets under the most severe electronic countermeasure conditions.

The Patriot system remains the pre-eminent theater air and missile defense system and the nation's only deployed, land-based, short-to-medium range ballistic missile defense capability, further exemplified by President Bush's statement to "deploy our Patriot air defense systems to reassure our friends and allies." To maintain combat effectiveness, the Patriot system's growth roadmap leads the U.S. Army's Air and Missile Defense transformation, for which Patriot becomes part of an integrated network of sensors, fire control, command and intelligence under a composite battalion to provide a layered system of protection and prosecution.

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