Raytheon, an RTX business, has secured a contract worth up to $6.3bn from the US Department of War for the production and sustainment of Standard Missile-3 Block IB (SM-3 IB) interceptors.
The agreement spans five years, with options for an additional two years.
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Under the terms of the contract, Raytheon will supply SM-3 IB interceptors designed to defend against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
The SM-3 IB has been deployed both at sea and on land, playing a role in the US Navy’s integrated air and missile defence system, and was first used in combat in 2024, according to Raytheon.
The contract is part of the agreements signed by Raytheon and the DoW in February this year, aimed at the urgent replenishment of missile defence stockpiles, supporting both US forces and allied operations.
Production will largely take place at Raytheon facilities in Tucson, Arizona and Huntsville, Alabama.
Raytheon president Phil Jasper said, “This award underscores Raytheon’s commitment to increasing production of critical munitions, ensuring our customers have the defensive capabilities they need, when they need them.”
The DoW stated that the agreement will provide multi-year procurement stability for the Joint Force’s ballistic missile defence capabilities. It will also address programme and supply-chain challenges by allocating capital directly to assembly lines, solid-rocket motor suppliers, and key domestic sub-tier vendors.
DoW acquisition and sustainment under secretary Michael P. Duffey said: “This contract provides production certainty to our defence industrial base, breaks sub-tier manufacturing bottlenecks, and ensures that our fleets and combatant commands have the interceptors required to dominate the battle space — air, sea or land.”
The SM-3 Block IB, part of the SM-3 family of interceptors, was successfully launched for the first time from an Aegis Ashore testing site in Hawaii in 2014.
This variant features an upgraded two-colour infrared seeker and enhanced propulsion, which the company said helps guide the interceptor towards incoming targets during the midcourse phase of a missile’s flight.
In August this year, the US DoW established two major seven-year framework agreements with Boeing and RTX to increase production of critical components for the SM-3 Block IB and Block IIA interceptors.
