Raytheon awarded USD551 million US Army contract to start production of Patriot for Bahrain.

The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon a $551 million contract to begin production of the Patriot air and missile defense system for the Kingdom of Bahrain. The contract was awarded on January 31, 2020.

Patriot air defense system (Picture source: Army Recognition)

"Raytheon's Patriot provides the Kingdom of Bahrain and 16 other countries around the globe with a combat-proven system that protects citizens, infrastructure and armed forces from a broad spectrum of threats," said Tom Laliberty, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business. "Patriot works, has saved countless lives, and will continue to do so for many years because the system is constantly tested, modernized, upgraded and improved to stay ahead of the advancing threat."

In August 2019, Bahrain signed a letter of offer and acceptance agreement to purchase Patriot air and missile defense systems from the U.S. Army. The agreement allowed the U.S. Government to start contract negotiations with the Patriot system manufacturer Raytheon for the production of the systems and missiles. The quantity of the systems had not been revealed. The possible sale included 60 Patriot advanced capability-3 (PAC-3) missile segment enhancement (MSE) missiles, 36 Patriot MIM-104E guidance enhanced missiles (GEM-T) missiles with canisters.