Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Raytheon Awarded $54 Million to Develop Multiple Kill Vehicle for Ballistic Missile Defense

Raytheon Awarded $54 Million to Develop Multiple Kill Vehicle for Ballistic Missile Defense

TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 11, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) was awarded a $54 million Missile Defense Agency contract to continue design and development of a Multiple Kill Vehicle. MKV-R, as it is known, will counter complex ballistic missile threats during the midcourse phase of flight with multiple kill vehicles launched from a single interceptor.

"Raytheon is the only company that has designed, developed and deployed exoatmospheric kill vehicles for the Ballistic Missile Defense System," said Frank Wyatt, Raytheon Missile Systems vice president of Naval Weapon Systems. "This contract award establishes Raytheon as the prime contractor for the development of the MKV-R and as the systems integrator for the MKV-R payload."

MKV-R consists of several identical kill vehicles with the same capabilities and flexibility. One kill vehicle serves as the engagement manager by communicating battlespace information to the BMDS, simultaneously assigning targets and providing kill assessment.

All kill vehicles have the same capability to autonomously track and intercept threats with hit-to-kill accuracy, providing redundancy and eliminating the risk of single point failure.

"With more than two decades of kill vehicle experience, Raytheon is the industry leader in design, development and production," said Wyatt. "We are leveraging our expertise to develop the multiple-kill concept."

Note to Editors:

This contract award was originally announced by the Department of Defense Oct. 31, 2008

Raytheon's missile defense hit-to-kill successes:

Standard Missile-3 Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle
Jan. 25, 2002 Oct. 2, 1999
June 13, 2002 July 13, 2001
Nov. 21, 2002 Dec. 3, 2001
Dec. 11, 2003 March 15, 2002
Feb. 24, 2005 Oct. 14, 2002
Nov. 17, 2005 Sept. 1, 2006
June 22, 2006 Sept. 28, 2007
April 26, 2007
June 22, 2007
Nov. 6, 2007
Dec. 17, 2007
Feb. 20, 2008 (satellite intercept)


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