Raytheon Company, TEWKSBURY, Mass.: Raytheon Company's Skyguard “AMOUN” achieved a major milestone with a successful missile firing at a test range near Cairo, Egypt. “AMOUN” is the Egyptian name for the point- defense system designed to protect high value assets, such as airports and cities.
A Skyguard battery consists of two launchers, each with four missiles, two 35 mm guns, and a fire control radar.
“A key aspect of this achievement is the seamless manner in which the Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) team provided an affordable, enhanced capability to the customer,” said Skip Garrett, Raytheon IDS vice president for International Operations. “Raytheon's ability to upgrade a proven air defense solution through the continuing integration of advanced technologies has allowed us to quickly provide this critical capability.”
On April 8, the Egyptian Air Defense Command successfully engaged and fired a Sparrow 7M missile against an unmanned aerial target, using a Skyguard battery with a Sparrow launcher containing an IDS-upgraded “AMOUN” electronics pod.
IDS engineers traveled to Egypt to support field integration and system demonstration activities leading up to this successful event. The Raytheon team supporting the test activities included representatives from IDS Engineering, Raytheon South East Asia Systems Company and Raytheon Technical Services Company. Egyptian Air Defense officials were pleased with the results and the comprehensive support provided by the Raytheon team.
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 more than 80 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.
Background Information
The Skyguard launcher fires Sparrow missiles from a ground-based platform and contains a continuous wave radar to illuminate and track the target. Oerlikon-Contraves designed the platform; Raytheon, the radar and missile canisters.
The Skyguard Electronics Pod Upgrade program began in 2004 for the government of Egypt. Its objective is to add digital processing capability to the original analog tracking receiver, which enables the tracking of targets in the presence of noise and deceptive interference. Raytheon designed the Skyguard pod in the mid-1980s as the tracking illuminator portion of the launcher, which contains a 200-watt CW X-Band transmitter developed by Ericsson and an analog tracking receiver.
The program also developed a prototype solid-state transmitter, consisting of an exciter based on surface acoustic wave technology and a field effect transistor-based power amplifier.
Raytheon will be upgrading all 40 of Egypt's AMOUN launchers with this solid- state transmitter.
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