TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTNA; RTNB)
has received a U.S. Army $100 million contract modification for the continued
development of the Excalibur, XM982 precision-guided, extended-range artillery
projectile program.
The Excalibur family of guided projectiles will allow current and future
Army and Marine Corps digitized howitzers to overcome the range disadvantage
they now have against many threat artillery systems while gaining lethality
improvements of three to six times current projectiles.
The Global Positioning System/Inertial Measurement Unit-guided 155mm
artillery projectile program was rebaselined and funded through a unique
acquisition process known as "Alpha contracting" by which the Army and
Raytheon jointly determined the major program parameters of technical risk,
schedule and cost. After receiving full funding and congressional support in
the fiscal year 2001 budget process, the Army reaffirmed its objective to
develop and field this revolutionary class of precision-guided projectiles to
its interim, legacy and objective force artillery units.
"This fiscal commitment will allow us to develop precision-guided
artillery projectiles for the lighter interim brigades now being organized,"
said Lt. Col. Richard Hansen, Excalibur program manager at Picatinny Arsenal,
N.J.
"The Army's vision of a highly lethal, deployable and logistically
supportable objective force will be greatly assisted by the fielding of these
projectiles," Hansen said.
This program boost follows successful tests at the Army's Yuma Proving
Grounds in September.
The first gun launches of the Excalibur guidance electronics were
conducted during the week of Sept 25. Two guidance packages were recovered
using a unique Soft Recovery Vehicle projectile system, in which gun launches
at 15,000 g's are returned to earth by parachute and analyzed in the lab for
functioning.
"We were very pleased in the performance of our test vehicles and the
structural integrity of the guidance components," said Raytheon's Excalibur
program manager John Halvey. "We will learn much more when the lab analysis is
completed but this important series of tests should put us in good shape for
our programmed maneuver flights next year."
Raytheon's Missile Systems business unit in Tucson, Ariz., is developing the
Excalibur under an engineering and manufacturing development contract.
Raytheon Company, based in Lexington, Mass., is a global technology leader
that provides products and services in the areas of commercial and defense
electronics and business and special mission aircraft. Raytheon has operations
throughout the United States and serves customers in more than 70 countries.
Contact:
Jennifer Spears
520.794.4182
Pager: 1-888-575-3143
SOURCE Raytheon Company
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Related links:
http://www.raytheon.com
CONTACT:
Jennifer Spears of Raytheon, 520-794-4182,
Pager: 1-888-575-3143
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