RESTON, Va., and TUCSON, Ariz., March 31, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- A team composed of Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) and Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) was awarded a contract today by the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to proceed to the next phase of the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program competition.
Under a $10 million, eight-month contract, Northrop Grumman/Raytheon is one of two teams chosen for the concept design phase of the program. Final award to one prime team for the development and test phase of the KEI program, valued at more than $4 billion over five years, is expected in early 2004.
"The Northrop Grumman/Raytheon team is committed to providing MDA with a realistic approach to solving this challenge," said Donald C. Winter, Northrop Grumman corporate vice president and president of the company's Mission Systems sector, and lead executive for missile defense. "We will harness the vast resources and talent from across both companies to deliver a quality product on time, on budget and with mission success assured."
The KEI program is designed to produce interceptors capable of shooting down enemy ballistic missiles during their boost and ascent phases of flight. This effort will augment the midcourse and terminal based interceptor programs currently underway to provide a layered missile defense architecture that will guard against potential enemy attack.
Overall responsibilities of the prime will include systems engineering, systems integration and test, command and control, battle management, communications and launcher development. Northrop Grumman is leading the team and serving as systems integrator. Raytheon is the principal subcontractor responsible for developing and integrating the interceptor and providing a significant portion of weapon system engineering.
"We have brought together an integrated team from across Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and our key suppliers that will provide the customer a timely and capable solution with high mission success. We at Raytheon intend to fully leverage our kill vehicle and interceptor expertise which resulted in five hit-to-kill intercepts in 2002," said Louise Francesconi, Raytheon corporate vice president and president of Missile Systems.
Northrop Grumman/Raytheon combined experience in missile defense
Both Northrop Grumman and Raytheon are recognized leaders in developing, testing and deploying a host of missile defense capabilities for MDA's current and planned system.
Northrop Grumman's key missile defense programs include building the Defense Support Program satellite, the first component in the Ballistic Missile Defense system to detect a hostile launch; prime contractor for the Joint Tactical Ground Station; prime contractor developing the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS); providing payloads and associated mission processing for SBIRS-High and STSS; developing and fielding the Ground-based Missile Defense (GMD) fire control/communications system (formerly known as BMC3) and the command launch equipment command and control (GMD CLE C2) system; and prime contractor for the Joint National Integration Center (JNIC) where ballistic missile defense war games are conducted. Northrop Grumman is also providing engineering support services and active/passive sensor technology expertise directly to MDA.
Northrop Grumman is developing the high-power chemical laser component of MDA's Airborne Laser (ABL) program. The company is the U.S. Army's contractor for the Mobile Tactical High-Energy Laser, and also is playing a leading role developing and fielding the Aegis weapon system, the major sea-based element of missile defense. Targets and countermeasures work includes serving as prime contractor for the Liquid Booster program, and providing systems engineering and technical assistance to the Rocket Systems Launch program which supports the assembly and launch of target vehicles from Vandenberg Air Force Base for each GMD test.
Raytheon is a leader in missile defense systems, from surveillance, to BMC3, to interceptors and kill vehicles. Raytheon produces the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle for MDA's GMD program and the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) including the kinetic warhead for the sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense program. Raytheon interceptors have scored a total of eight successful intercepts. Raytheon is a major player in the GMD element providing a family of radars including the Upgraded Early Warning Radar, Upgraded Cobra Dane Radar, Sea-Based Test X-Band Radar, the Ground-Based Radar-Prototype and the TPS-X Radar. Additionally, Raytheon is the sensor provider for the STSS Block 06 program and supplies the tracking and illumination laser on the ABL and the JNIC. Raytheon is the prime contractor for the combat proven Patriot Weapon System and is a key contractor on the THAAD program, responsible for the THAAD radar, a significant portion of the THAAD BMC2 and a significant portion of weapon systems engineering and test.
Northrop Grumman Corporation is a $25 billion global defense company, headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif. Northrop Grumman provides technologically advanced, innovative products, services and solutions in systems integration, defense electronics, information technology, advanced aircraft, shipbuilding and space technology. With approximately 120,000 employees and operations in all 50 states and 25 countries, Northrop Grumman serves U.S. and international military, government and commercial customers.
Raytheon Company, with 2002 sales of $16.8 billion, is an industry leader in defense, government and commercial electronics, space, information technology, technical services and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Lexington, Mass., Raytheon employs more than 76,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.raytheon.com.
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