"SM-6 not only ensures that the US Navy anti-air warfare combatants will defeat evolving and asymmetric air threats throughout its service life, but its inherent capabilities also provide the basis for highly cost effective spirals to meet future mission requirements," said Louise L. Francesconi, president of Raytheon Missile Systems, which will develop, design, test, produce and support SM-6.

The initial, baseline SM-6 program provides an ER-AAW missile capability against fixed and rotary wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and land attack anti-ship cruise missiles in flight, both over sea and land.

With a future integrated fire control, SM-6 will provide the surface Navy with an increased battlespace against over-the-horizon AAW (anti-air warfare) threats, taking full advantage of the kinematics available to Standard Missile.

SM-6 will employ Raytheon's Standard Missile-2 Block IV airframe and proven seeker and guidance technology from across the company's product lines. Raytheon's Standard Missile-2 Block IV is the latest version of SM-2 to enter production and provides an extended range capability.

The addition of state- of-the-art active radar guidance enables unprecedented performance into a highly reliable, lightweight, low-cost package.

"By employing our combat proven Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) technology on our widely deployed and ship certified Standard Missile-2 airframe, we have created a highly effective and affordable ER-AAW solution with minimum risk for our Navy customer," said Edward Miyshiro, Raytheon's Naval Weapons Systems vice president.

"We are capitalizing on and taking advantage of the synergies and benefits - sharing technology, producing affordable systems and quick response time to our customers - we expected to realize by consolidating virtually all of Raytheon's missile programs in Tucson several years ago, Miyashiro said.

The US Navy announced its intention in January 2003 to award a contract to Raytheon Company to develop and produce a new extended range active missile.

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