Raytheon Company,
TEWKSBURY, Mass.: Raytheon Company's Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missile-T (GEM-T) upgrade program reached its first-ever $100 million sales award.
This award includes orders for the U.S. Army and a Foreign Military Sales contract for 230 GEM-T upgrades, plus spares. This is the largest order received to date for GEM-T and bolsters Raytheon's upgrade output to levels not seen since the mid 1990s. This large order benefits both customers with significant price reductions. For successive awards, Raytheon has successfully reduced the acquisition unit price for the U.S. Army.
“As the Global War on Terror wages on and budgets tighten, we are proud to be able to provide our warfighters with an affordable, highly accurate missile that can be counted on the first time, every time,” said Pete Franklin, vice president for National and Theater Security Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. “This GEM-T upgrade enables our troops to continue to rely on Raytheon's Patriot system to identify, track and eliminate airborne threats into the future.”
GEM-T is a significant upgrade over the existing Patriot Advanced Configuration-2 (PAC-2) missile and, when fielded in conjunction with the Patriot Advanced Configuration-3 (PAC-3) system, provides a robust capability against ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, aircraft and remotely piloted vehicles. GEM-T provides the U.S. Army and its allies with enhanced accuracy at a low cost.
GEM-T missiles are PAC-2 missiles that are refurbished and modernized at Raytheon's Integrated Air Defense Center, Andover, Mass. Through the upgrade process, older components are replaced, new technology inserted and reliability increased.
Raytheon IDS is the prime contractor for the Patriot system and the system integrator for the PAC-3 system that includes the GEM-T missile. As the system integrator, Raytheon IDS ensures that all Patriot system components provide the warfighter a reliable and lethal capability to defeat the threats in current and future combat environments.
The Patriot PAC-3 program is managed by the U.S. Army Program Executive Office for Missiles and Space and executed by the Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Project Office, Huntsville, Ala.
Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in Joint Battlespace Integration providing affordable, integrated solutions to a broad international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security.
Raytheon Company, with 2006 sales of $20.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 85 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people worldwide.
