Raytheon to pursue Navy's MPBR program

INDIANAPOLIS, June 23 (UPI) -- Raytheon announced a partnership with Ultra Electronics Precision Air Systems to develop a system for the U.S. Navy's Multi-Purpose Bomb Rack program.

U.S. company Raytheon has teamed with defense electronic and electromechanical systems developer Ultra Electronics in a move to pursue the Naval Air Systems Command's BRU-69/A Multi-Purpose Bomb Rack program.

Officials say the MPBR carriage system designed to update and replace several legacy bomb racks used with the Navy's F/A-18 E/F variants of the Hornet fighter aircraft. To pursue the Multi-Purpose Bomb Rack program, Raytheon says it will utilize its history developing bomb rack and missile launcher technologies with Ultra Electronics' high-performance pneumatic technologies.

"Ultra is the only company in the world with pneumatic and compressor technology that is certified, in service and deployed on multiple platforms," Wayne Iurillo, Raytheon Technical Services Customized Engineering and Depot Support vice president, said in a statement.

"Ultra's superior performance on the F-35 (Lightning II aircraft) and Small Diameter Bomb BRU-61 programs is unique and makes the company our partner of choice for Multi-Purpose Bomb Rack."