Raytheon tapped to support Phalanx weapon system

Dec. 27 (UPI) -- Raytheon has been awarded an $80 million contract by the U.S. Navy to support the Phalanx Close-In weapon system.

The contract, announced Tuesday by the Department of Defense, comes under a cost-plus-fixed-fee modification to a previously awarded contract, which is a cost-reimbursement contract that could provide Raytheon with additional funds depending on the negotiated fee that is fixed at the inception of the contract.

The Phalanx Close-In weapon system is a "rapid-fire, computer-controlled, radar-guided gun that can defeat anti-ship missiles and other close-in threats on land and at sea," according to Raytheon.

The system is billed by the Pentagon as a "fast-reaction terminal defense against low and high-flying, high-speed maneuvering anti-ship ballistic missile threats that have penetrated all other defenses."

The contract will support Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, Canada, Britain, South Korea, Portugal and Greece under the U.S. Defense and State Department foreign military sales programs.

Work on the contract will be conducted mostly in Tucson, Ariz., and El Segundo, Calif., with the rest spread among several other cities across the United States, and is expected to be completed by January 2019.

More than $2.1 million will be obligated to Raytheon at the time of the award, which will be allocated from U.S. Navy fiscal 2018 weapons procurement funds. The funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.