WASHINGTON, June 8 (UPI) -- Raytheon said Wednesday it had won a major U.S. Navy contract for the Standard Missile-3 project.
The deal is worth as much as $424 million and continues the development of the Blocks 1A and 1B versions of the sea-launched anti-missile missile.
Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is equipped with a LEAP (Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric Projectile) kinetic warhead and is designed to intercept hostile short-range ballistic missiles. It is part of the Navy's sea-based missile defense system deployed aboard Aegis-class cruisers and destroyers.
The contract announced Wednesday was originally issued by the Navy in late May.
The missile has made the transition from the engineering development phase to initial manufacturing at the same Arizona plant where Raytheon builds the production-version SM-2.
Block 1A includes an incremental reliability upgrade while Block 1B incorporates a new infrared seeker and throttle-and-attitude control system.
The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced Tuesday that a possible contract worth $438 million would sell the Block 1A SM-3 to Japan, which already deploys the SM-2 aboard its Aegis destroyers.
Raytheon Vice President Ed Miyashiro said the joint construction of the SM-2 and the SM-3, which use the same airframe, was "an excellent example of spiral development."
"We are focusing on 'Mission Assurance' to deliver near-term capability to the fleet, while we develop and integrate incremental block upgrades to counter the evolving ballistic missile threat."
