Raytheon awarded $260M contract for Tomahawk missiles

Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Raytheon Co., has been awarded $260 million for the procurement of 196 Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles in support of U.S. Navy operations and England.

Pentagon officials announced the contract award late Friday, which modifies a December 2016 contract worth $303 million, which was for the procurement of 214 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The Tomahawk Block IV all-up-round vertical launch system missiles can be launched from surface naval ships or submerged submarines and can fly into heavily defended airspace more than 1,000 miles away and fly for hours, shift course on command and send a picture of the target back to the Joint Terminal Attack Controllers halfway around the world -- before striking with "pinpoint accuracy," according to Raytheon.

Raytheon says that the modern day Tomahawks have been used in combat more than 2,000 times and flight-tested more than 500 times.

"In April 2017, U.S. Navy destroyers launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets on a Syrian air base," Raytheon said in a press statement. "In 2014, a U.S. Navy destroyer and a guided missile cruiser launched 47 Tomahawk missiles in a strike on the Islamic State terrorist group in Syria."

Work on the Tomahawks will occur across the country with more than 23 percent of the project taking place in Tucson, Ariz.

Work under the contract is expected to be completed in Aug. 2019, with Navy fiscal years 2017 and 2018 funds obligated for the contract at the time of award. The Navy will be picking up the majority of the tab -- about $256 million -- with Britain shelling out $3.6 million.