INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 22 (UPI) -- Raytheon will develop and deliver a new BRU-69/A multipurpose bomb rack system under a contract from the U.S. Navy's Naval Air Systems Command.
The MPBR will replace several bomb racks currently deployed on Navy aircraft.
The system will use pneumatic energy instead of an explosive charge to release the weapon from the rack. Advanced electronics built into the bomb rack will ensure the new system is compatible with current and future precision-guided weapons.
"Because of its low-maintenance, high-reliability design, the MPBR is expected to provide substantial life-cycle cost savings, compared with existing racks," said RTSC Customized Engineering and Depot Support Vice President Wayne Iurillo. "The single configuration for multiple stores will also be designed to significantly increase savings."
The cost-plus-incentive fee contract is worth $32.4 million.
Raytheon said the system will be built at the Raytheon Technical Services Company LLC facility in Indianapolis. The engineering and manufacturing development phase of the program will be completed in 2014, when low-rate initial production is expected to begin, with full scale production starting in 2017.
Ultra Electronics Precision Air Systems, a business unit of Britain's Ultra Electronics Group, will produce the airborne High Pressure Pure Air Generator that produces the pneumatic energy for the release system.
