LE BOURGET, Paris – Raytheon expects to grow Standard Missile-2 business well beyond the initial $650 million program that spurred a restart of the production line, said CEO Tom Kennedy.

Raytheon announced this week at the Paris Air Show the restart of its Standard Missile-2 production line, after the Netherlands, Japan, Australia and South Korea decided to purchase the SM-2 under a new bundled contract through the Department of Defense. The missile defends navies against anti-ship missiles and aircraft out to 90 nautical miles and an altitude of 65,000 feet. 

Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Spain and Taiwan are customers. New orders will include 280 SM-2 and IIIB missiles.

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But the restart, which follows a roughly four-year shutdown of the production line, might serve as the initial kickoff of more opportunities. Raytheon and the U.S. Navy are using the restart as an opportunity modernize production and testing processes within the factory, with new deliveries scheduled to begin in 2020, and Kennedy anticipates additional orders. 

"We have many international customers using that weapon system [who] are looking to refresh existing inventories," he said. "The initial contract is close to $700 million, and we are looking to grow that contract [more] over the next five years."

The deal could keep the Arizona production line open through 2035. 


About Jill Aitoro

Jill Aitoro is editor of Defense News. She is also executive editor of Sightline Media's Business-to-Government group, including Defense News, C4ISRNET, Federal Times and Fifth Domain. She brings over 15 years’ experience in editing and reporting on defense and federal programs, policy, procurement, and technology.

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