The Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency has awarded Raytheon [RTN] a $218.5-million contract for the production of more than two dozen of the latest Standard Missile-3 sea-based interceptors.
The contract comes three months after the MDA and Navy conducted the third successful test of the SM-3 block 1B interceptor. Those tests followed an unsuccessful test of the block 1B in its first attempt nearly two years ago.
The contract modification announced by the Pentagon earlier in August calls for building 29 of the SM-3 block 1B missiles, and raises the total value from the initial award to nearly $400 million.
Following the test in May Pentagon and Raytheon officials said the newest SM-3 is on track for operational deployment in 2015 as part of the Obama administration’s missile defense plans for Europe known as the Phased Adaptive Approach.
“The three back-to-back successful SM-3 Block IB flight tests have demonstrated the missile’s advanced capabilities and reliability against various threats in a variety of mission scenarios,” Taylor Lawrence, the president of Raytheon missile systems, said.
The first system will go to Romania under Aegis Ashore, which is based on the Lockheed Martin-built [LMT] Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System now operating on Navy cruisers and destroyers.
A Raytheon company official said recently that the failed first test of the block 1B in September 2011 was due to an abnormal burn in the boost rocket, and added the problem had been resolved.