Navy Awards Raytheon $292M Contract Modification for Sidewinder Block II Missiles Production

Raytheon (NYSE: RTN) has received a potential $291.8 million contract modification from the U.S. Navy to build 660 full-rate production Lot 16 AIM 9X Block II Sidewinder tactical missiles and related components for several domestic and foreign military customers.

The Defense Department said Friday the modification also includes 252 Block II captive air training missiles, 13 special air training missiles, 274 all-up-round containers, 15 captive test missiles, one lot of classified assets, 16 sets of spares and various guidance units, propulsion steering sections and spare optical target detectors and containers.

Raytheon’s missile systems unit in Tucson, Arizona, is scheduled to complete work under the modification in March 2019.

DoD noted the contract combines purchases from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army as well as the governments of Australia, Turkey, South Korea, Japan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Malaysia, Israel, Oman, Belgium, Finland, Singapore and Romania.

The AIM-9X Block II missile, a variant of the Sidewinder short-range missile system, is equipped with a redesigned fuze, a digital ignition safety device and a lock-on-after-launch technology.

Sidewinders are designed to integrate with F-15, F-16, F/A-18, F-4, A-4, A-6, AV-8B, AH-1, Tornado, JA-37 Viggen Sea Harrier aircraft platforms.