Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has won a $313 million contract for a next-generation missile interceptor that is a key part of a planned missile shield for Europe.
The contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency provides funding to complete the development phase for the Standard Missile-3 Block IB program and deliver 24 developmental missile rounds to the agency, said Wes Kremer, SM-3 program director for Raytheon.
The contract is a milestone on the way to the first SM-3 Block IB flight test, expected later this year.
"Development is ramping up here, and our first flight test is in late summer," Kremer said.
The work will be performed in Tucson for completion in June 2013. Earlier this month, Raytheon was awarded a separate, $75 million contract for engineering development of the SM-3 Block IB.
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In a related move, the Missile Defense Agency cut its order with Raytheon for the currently deployed SM-3 Block IA missile to 18 rounds from 24 previously, paring the contract amount to $158 million from $230 million, or about $8.7 million per missile. Work on that contract will be ongoing in Tucson through April 2012.
Adapted from the Standard Missile series of ship-defense missiles, the SM-3 is part of the seagoing Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system. The current Block IA version is deployed on U.S. and Japanese cruisers equipped with the Aegis missile-launching system.
The SM-3 is a key part of the Obama administration's "phased adaptive approach" to missile defense. The approach, unveiled in 2009 and approved by NATO last year, scrapped plans to deploy large, ground-based interceptors in Europe in favor of the seagoing SM-3 and a land-based version, dubbed Aegis Ashore.
As part of the first phase of that program, a U.S. Navy cruiser equipped with SM-3 Block IA missiles sailed to the Mediterranean Sea earlier this month for a six-month deployment.
The Block IB missile, which adds important targeting capabilities, is planned for deployment in 2015 in the second phase of the missile-defense plan.
"We're on track to support the president's phased-adaptive approach deployment in 2015, which includes one of the land-based sites for Aegis Ashore," Raytheon's Kremer said.
A series of tests for the land-based Aegis system is expected to start in 2012 at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, Hawaii, he said. Plans call for the land-based version to be initially deployed in Romania, and later in Poland.
Based on the Block IA, the Block IB missile adds a two-color infrared seeker and advanced signal processor for better targeting, and a new, throttleable flight control system to enhance the maneuverability of the missile's warhead.
A missile-defense advocate said the SM-3 Block IB will be a big improvement over the Block IA, which was designed to counter smaller, less sophisticated missiles like Scuds.
"The (Block) IB can now see much better because it will have two seekers on it, so it will be more accurate," said Riki Ellison, founder and chairman of the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance in Alexandria, Va.
With the improved control system, "It's not going to give you any more distance, it's going to give you more quality to give you more confidence to hit more modern missile systems," Ellison said.
But the real leap forward, Ellison said, will be the SM-3 Block IIA, a larger, longer-range missile that the Pentagon and Raytheon are co-developing with Japan. That system, to counter medium- and long-range ballistic missiles, is planned for deployment by 2018.
While the missile rounds ordered in the latest contract are slated for developmental testing, Kremer said Raytheon expects to get a low-rate initial production contract next year.
Kremer said the reduction in the order for the Block IA missiles was no surprise, noting that the original contract for 12 Block IA missiles was increased to 24, before being cut amid budget shuffling.
A measure in the current defense bill would provide funding for continued production of the Block IA missile for a year or so, until Raytheon starts producing the Block IB, Kremer said.
Contact Assistant Business Editor David Wichner at dwichner@azstarnet.com or 573-4181.