TEWKSBURY, Mass., Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Raytheon said last week its MK 57 VLS had won a top Pentagon and NDIA engineering excellence award.
Raytheon said in a statement Thursday that its MK 57 Vertical Launching System -- VLS -- program for the Zumwalt-class destroyer -- DDG 1000 -- had "been recognized by the Department of Defense and the National Defense Industrial Association -- NDIA -- as a 2006 Top 5 DOD program award winner for excellence in systems engineering."
"Co-developed by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems -- IDS -- and BAE Systems, the MK 57 VLS provides critical ship self defense capabilities and is designed to fire all missile types in the U.S. Navy inventory and projected to be in inventory for the foreseeable future. The first shipboard deployment of the system is planned for the Zumwalt-class destroyer, the U.S. Navy's next-generation, multi-mission destroyer," the company said.
"This award is a projection of the customer's confidence in the MK 57 VLS and our team's ability to deliver world-class systems," said IDS' Bill Marcley, director of Zumwalt Mission Systems Equipment.
"Raytheon applies its engineering innovation and expertise to the development of systems and capabilities that are reliable, affordable and tailored to meet the needs of the war fighter," Marcley said
"Members from Raytheon's joint government-industry team were presented with the award during NDIA's 10th Annual Systems Engineering Conference, San Diego, Calif.," the company said. "AFADTS -- Advanced Field Artillery Data System -- another Raytheon program, also received one of the Top 5 awards," it said.
Raytheon described Integrated Defense Systems as the company's "leader in Joint Battle-space Integration providing affordable, integrated solutions to a broad international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security."
