March 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon a $402.6 million contract for SPY-6 radars.
The company received options for the Air and Missile Defense Radar Program low-rate initial production, the Department of Defense and the company announced Thursday.
Under the modification, Raytheon will provide three AMDR LRIP units to be deployed on the latest version of the Arleigh Burke-class of guided missile destroyers, the Flight III.
Work will be performed in Marlborough, Mass., and is expected to be completed by March 2023.
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Navy fiscal 2019 shipbuilding and conversion funding in the full amount will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year.
The SPY-6 is the U.S. Navy's next generation integrated air and missile defense radar, replacing the Aegis Combat System, produced by Lockheed Martin.
The missiles will provide "unmatched protection against air, surface, and ballistic missile threats," according to Raytheon.
Individual building blocks called Radar Modular Assemblies comprise the radar. Each one is a self-contained radar in a 2-foot square box. They can stack together to form any size array to fit the mission requirements of any ship, Raytheon said.
First deployed in 1991, the Arleigh Burke-class was the Navy's only active destroyer until the Zumwalt class became active in 2016.
The first Flight III ship, the USS Jack H. Lucas, began construction on May 7, 2018 at Huntington Ingalls Shipbuilding in Pascagoula, Miss. The Louis H. Wilson Jr. is also under contract, according to the Navy. Approved for construction last September were the Ted Stevens, Jeremiah Denton and eight other unnamed ships.
