The Pentagon on Thursday awarded Raytheon’s RTX unit a multi-year contract to produce Standard Missile-3 Block IB interceptors, with a base value of $4.4 billion and options worth nearly $2 billion more. The Missile Defense Agency was the contracting agency; the announcement did not say how many interceptors were ordered.
Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment Michael Duffey said the contract “provides production certainty to our defense industrial base, breaks sub-tier manufacturing bottlenecks” and keeps interceptors flowing to fleets and combatant commands. The SM-3 Block IB, which Raytheon says can be fired from ships and land to intercept short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles midcourse, has seen combat use in recent months, Raytheon President Phil Jasper noted.
The award lands in a cluster of large munitions deals: the Pentagon and Raytheon recently inked a $24.4 billion deal to accelerate SM-6 production, a $22.9 billion Tomahawk contract targeting 1,000 rounds a year, and an AMRAAM production deal worth up to $20.7 billion. A framework agreement signed in February laid the groundwork for this SM-3 multi-year buy.