Raytheon to begin modernizing missile defense

March 27 (UPI) -- Raytheon announced this week that the company has begun work on a contract from the U.S. Army to sustain and modernize missile defense for both military commands and government agencies.

Raytheon said on Monday it would start work on the three-year service contract for system upgrades valued at $600 million that was first announced in June 2017. The work was held up by a protest bid, the company said.

The Army systems set to receive services are the THAAD, the AN/TPY-2 radars, the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense System, the Sea-Based X-Band Radar and Upgraded Early Warning Radars, according to the company.

The Government Accountability Office defines a bid protest as "a challenge to the award or proposed award of a contract for the procurement of goods and services or a challenge to the terms of a solicitation for such a contract."

Raytheon said that the bid was withdrawn in February 2018, which paved the way for the agreement between the federal government and Raytheon -- enabling the company to provide software sustainment and system engineering services for U.S. Army systems.

Raytheon will receive direction from the U.S. Army to begin work within the 30 to 60 days.

"We're bringing state-of-the-art, commercial software practices, such as DevOps and Agile, to make sure the systems the Army depends on stay ahead of evolving threats," Todd Probert, vice president of Mission Support and Modernization at Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services, said in a press release.

Work on the contract will occur at Systems Simulation, Software and Integration Directorate, U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center at Redstone Arsenal.