Raytheon gets $434 million contract to modify AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Raytheon Missile Systems received a $434 million contract for tactical missile modifications, the Defense Department announced.

The contract covers 766 AIM-9X Block II and Block II Plus missiles, known as Sidewinders, as well as guidance units, optical target containers and training missiles. Forty-four percent of the modifications to missiles and equipment were ordered by the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force, with the rest delivered to the governments of Israel, Norway, Qatar, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, Australia and the Netherlands.

The U.S. Air Force purchased its share of the hardware in a $121 million contract. The Navy's share was $$68 million. The costs of purchases by foreign governments range from $140 million by the United Arab Emirates to nearly $8 million by the Netherlands.

The $434,389,104 contract, announced on Friday, is an adjunct to a prior fixed-price-incentive firm contract for procurement of the missiles and equipment. Work will be done in 14 Raytheon facilities in the United States, Canada and Germany, with the majority performed at its Tucson, Ariz., headquarters.

The Naval Air Systems Command in Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting agency.