TUCSON, Arizona -- The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $116.4 million contract to enter the technological maturation and risk reduction phase of the Long-Range Precision Fires program.
LRPF is a new, longer-range surface-to-surface weapon that can defeat fixed land targets out to 499 kilometers which replaces the existing Army Tactical Missile System. Raytheon's LRPF solution, named DeepStrike:
- fires two missiles from a single weapons pod
- lowers costs and increases capacity
- boosts range over current systems by more than 40 percent
"Raytheon can develop, test, and field this new capability and deliver it to the Army ahead of current expectations to replace aging weapons," said Dr. Thomas Bussing, vice president of Raytheon's advanced missile systems product line. "LRPF gives soldiers on the battlefield overmatch capability against adversaries."
The technological maturation and risk-reduction phase includes testing missile components to be sure the design is ready for engineering and manufacturing development and live-fire demonstrations by the end of 2019.
DeepStrike will offer the U.S. Army the capability to implement future upgrades that will increase its versatility for future battlefield requirements.