Raytheon wins Saudi TOW missile contract

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, July 23 (UPI) -- Raytheon has been awarded a $55 million contract by the U.S. government to deliver TOW 2A radio frequency missiles to Saudi Arabia.

The tube-launched, optically tracked, wireless-guided missile includes an RF transmitter added to the missile case and an RF receiver in the missile.

The contract is part of the U.S. foreign military sale to Saudi Arabia's national guard.

The weapon has been around since the early 1970s and was first used by the U.S. military in Vietnam. But it has undergone successive upgrades and variant developments, including that of the TOW 2A variant.

The 4-foot-long multi-purpose weapon is used in anti-armor, anti-bunker, anti-fortification and anti-amphibious landing roles. Its operational range is around 4,100 yards with a warhead of 8.6-13 pounds. Time to target is around 20 seconds at maximum range.

The 2A can carry tandem warheads designed to defeat reactive armor. Tandem warheads house multiple explosive devices designed to go off in split-second succession on the same spot of armor, thereby weakening difficult-to-penetrate reactive armor.

Explosive reactive armor, often of a sandwich construction of materials, has been particularly difficult for single warheads to penetrate. The armor will allow an initial small penetration but the armor's deformation changes its nature and it will deflect more of the explosion. However, its weakness is that of a second hit exactly on the same spot as by a tandem warhead because the first explosion would have destroyed the original construction of the material.

Explosive reactive armor is favored by many of the former Soviet Union states since the 1980s. Many tanks in the eastern-European military inventory have been upgraded with ERA plating, the T-55 and T-62 tanks built several decades ago.

TOW RF missiles are designed for high mobility, rapid response and close-fire support capabilities.

"This missile can give soldiers at the lowest tactical echelon immediate, precision firepower," Raytheon's Vice President of Land Combat Jim Riley said.

Raytheon's TOW International Business Development Manager Shawn Ball said that potential targets often are in caves, behind boulders or in the mountains. "TOW RF missiles are more than capable of taking out these kinds of targets," he said.

The missiles are available in more than 10,000 airborne and ground platforms and are used as heavy assault weapons in combat operations by 40 countries around the world, a Raytheon statement said.

The main competitor to Raytheon's TOW as the world's most widely used anti-tank weapon has been the Soviet-designed 9K11 Malyutka, otherwise known by its NATO reporting name AT-3 Sagger.

The wire-guided guided missile AT-3 was developed in the mid 1960s and saw successes in Vietnam in the early 1970s when used by the North Vietnamese army against M48 Patton tanks of the U.S.-backed South Vietnamese military.

Raytheon also has been providing technical, training and logistics support for Saudi Arabia's Patriot and Hawk air-defense systems through a $100 million contract awarded in 2007.