Raytheon Missiles & Defense awarded $578 million contract for Standard Missile-2 production.

Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a Raytheon Technologies business, was awarded a $578 million contract to produce 54 SM-2 Block IIIAZ all up round upgrades for the United States and 215 Standard Missile-2 all up rounds for seven partner nations. The contract includes the production of SM-2 Block IIIA, IIIAZ, and IIIB variants for the United States, Chile, Denmark, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, and Taiwan.
Follow Navy Recognition on Google News at this link

A Standard Missile-2 is fired from the USS Donald Cook (Photo: U.S. Navy)

“SM-2 continues to be a premier ship air-defense weapon for many partner navies worldwide,” said Kim Ernzen, vice president of Naval Power at Raytheon Missiles & Defense. “Here at home, the SM-2 will protect U.S. Navy ships and crews through 2035 and beyond.”

SM-2 defends navies against anti-ship missiles and aircraft out to 90 nautical miles and an altitude of 65,000 feet. SM-2 has an extensive flight test history with more than 2,700 successful live firings.

The SM-2 Block IIIA and IIIB variants include radar seeker technologies in continuous wave and interrupted continuous wave guidance modes, tail controls and solid rocket motor propulsion to engage high-speed maneuvering threats and updated radar targeting and directional warheads. Block IIIB also includes autonomous infrared acquisition.