The Missile Defense Agency awarded Raytheon Company an undefinitized contract action for a fiscal year 2015 contract valued at $559,206,957 million for Standard Missile-3 Block IBs, which are guided missiles used by the U.S. Navy to provide regional defense against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missile threats.

Under this contract action, which was announced April 30 by the Department of Defense, Raytheon will deliver an initial quantity of 44 Standard Missile-3 Block IB all-up rounds and provide the work required to produce and deliver the third stage rocket motor reliability growth and design enhancements. The government expressed its intention to purchase additional missiles up to a total quantity of 52.

Final assembly of the SM-3 Block IB takes place at Raytheon's state-of-the-art SM-6 and SM-3 all-up-round production facility at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Deployed at sea for the first time in 2014, the SM-3 Block IB is on track for land-based deployment in Romania this year in line with the second phase of the Phased Adaptive Approach, the U.S.'s plan for missile defense in Europe.

The Missile Defense Agency also awarded Raytheon Company $87 million to purchase long-lead materials needed to produce up to 17 Standard Missile-3 Block IIAs that will be used for testing and initial deployment. A follow-on contract for the additional materials, parts and components is expected by early 2016.

“Our Japanese partners have been tremendous allies in this development program, and together we've taken ballistic missile defense to the next level. When the SM-3 Block IIA deploys in 2018, we will have a greater degree of protection than ever before,” said Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, Raytheon Missile Systems President.

The SM-3 Block IIA has larger rocket motors and a bigger, more capable kill vehicle that allows it to take out threats sooner in flight and protect larger regions of land.

The program is on track for both land and sea deployment in 2018 in line with Phase 3 of the U.S.'s Phased Adaptive Approach for missile defense of U.S. deployed forces and allies in NATO Europe.

SM-3s destroy incoming ballistic missile threats in space using nothing more than sheer impact, which is equivalent to a 10-ton truck traveling at 600 mph.

• More than 230 SM-3s have been delivered to date.
• SM-3 Block IB will be deployed at sea and ashore in 2015 in Romania.
• SM-3 Block IIA is on track for deployment at sea and ashore in 2018 in Poland and/or Romania.