UNITED STATES - 2 April 2009
Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $207 million contract to produce 207 Tomahawk Block 4 cruise missiles for the U.S. Navy.
Work under the non-competitive contract is expected to be completed by July 2011, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
About a third of the work will be performed in Tucson, where about 200 people work on the Tomahawk Block 4 program, a company spokesman said.
The rest of the work will be performed at about a dozen other sites around the country.
The Tomahawk — designed for long-range, precision strikes against high-value, heavily defended targets — is one of Raytheon Missile Systems' biggest programs. Hundreds of Tomahawks were fired during the first Persian Gulf War and the Iraq war.
The Tomahawk Block 4 is the latest generation of the Tomahawk series of cruise missiles, with advanced features including anti-jam Global Positioning System satellite guidance and the capability to circle over a battle area and be re-targeted remotely via two-way satellite data links.
The Block 4 missile can be launched from surface ships equipped with a vertical-launch system, submarines equipped with a "capsule launch system," or submarines equipped with a torpedo-tube launch system.
The United Kingdom is the only allied nation that also uses the Tomahawk Block 4.
The contract with the Naval Air Systems Command provides for 153 missiles designed for the vertical-launch system, 42 capsule-launch missiles, and 12 missiles with launch capsules.
Raytheon delivered its first Block 4 missile in 2004, and last June marked delivery of its 1,000th copy of the latest missile. The company has delivered about 1,300 of the missiles in all, Raytheon Missile Systems spokesman Mike Nachshen said.
In October, Raytheon said it completed outfitting the latest version of the Tomahawk onto the U.S. Navy's newest fast-attack submarine with a successful test firing from a Virginia-class submarine. The subs joined destroyers, cruisers, and fast-attack and guided-missile ships in using the latest Tomahawk.
Tomahawk Block IV Missile can hit targets over 1,000 miles (= 1,609 km) away, can be re-targeted in flight and even send back images of the battlefield to boost intelligence gathering.
Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $207 million contract to produce 207 Tomahawk Block 4 cruise missiles for the U.S. Navy.
Work under the non-competitive contract is expected to be completed by July 2011, the Defense Department said Tuesday.
About a third of the work will be performed in Tucson, where about 200 people work on the Tomahawk Block 4 program, a company spokesman said.
The rest of the work will be performed at about a dozen other sites around the country.
The Tomahawk — designed for long-range, precision strikes against high-value, heavily defended targets — is one of Raytheon Missile Systems' biggest programs. Hundreds of Tomahawks were fired during the first Persian Gulf War and the Iraq war.
The Tomahawk Block 4 is the latest generation of the Tomahawk series of cruise missiles, with advanced features including anti-jam Global Positioning System satellite guidance and the capability to circle over a battle area and be re-targeted remotely via two-way satellite data links.
The Block 4 missile can be launched from surface ships equipped with a vertical-launch system, submarines equipped with a "capsule launch system," or submarines equipped with a torpedo-tube launch system.
The United Kingdom is the only allied nation that also uses the Tomahawk Block 4.
The contract with the Naval Air Systems Command provides for 153 missiles designed for the vertical-launch system, 42 capsule-launch missiles, and 12 missiles with launch capsules.
Raytheon delivered its first Block 4 missile in 2004, and last June marked delivery of its 1,000th copy of the latest missile. The company has delivered about 1,300 of the missiles in all, Raytheon Missile Systems spokesman Mike Nachshen said.
In October, Raytheon said it completed outfitting the latest version of the Tomahawk onto the U.S. Navy's newest fast-attack submarine with a successful test firing from a Virginia-class submarine. The subs joined destroyers, cruisers, and fast-attack and guided-missile ships in using the latest Tomahawk.
Tomahawk Block IV Missile can hit targets over 1,000 miles (= 1,609 km) away, can be re-targeted in flight and even send back images of the battlefield to boost intelligence gathering.
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