Raytheon [RTN] recently said its Patriot missiles, critical components of the Patriot Air and Missile Defense System, have received Army approval for a second recertification, extending the operational life of the worldwide inventory of Patriot missiles another 15 years.

“The current life of the missile is 30 years, and it was already recertified once, at 15 years,” Mike Fletcher, director of Raytheon’s Patriot Systems Missile Program, said. “Now, after a three-year extensive study, the Army decided, based on study results, to extend the (missile’s) life from 30 to 45 years.”

When a missile is recertified, the fully assembled missile is removed from its canister and disassembled into its major subcomponents, he said. Then limited life components–such as batteries–in those major subcomponents are changed out.

To upgrade the missile to the latest configuration at the same time as doing the second recertification provides the most cost effective solution, he said.

This extension allows customers to recertify and/or upgrade their inventory of Raytheon’s Patriot missiles at a fraction of the cost of replacing them with alternative interceptors.

“This is a testament to Patriot’s capabilities and combat performance that continue to exceed all expectations, now and over its successful operational life,” Sanjay Kapoor, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business, said in a statement. “This significant life extension decision by the Army comes on the heels of a recent $46.7 million Army contract awarded to Raytheon to recertify and upgrade Patriot missiles to the latest GEM-T configuration as part of the continuous Patriot modernization effort.”

For the recertification, the missiles will be brought to Letterkenny Army Depot, Pa., which will disassemble the missiles and will do some recertification work, while other portions of the work will be done by Raytheon in Andover, Mass. Raytheon does all the upgrade work.

“International customers, depending on the type of contract–direct commercial sales or foreign military sales–not all, but many have a limited field capacity where they can assemble and disassemble missiles…(so they can) just send the portions that require recertification,” Fletcher said.

“Every single missile ever produced” by the company can be found in an extensive “Certified Round Data Management System,” he said. “We know the exact missile by serial number, when it was produced, where it is located now, and when all limited life components expire and when they require recertification.”

Recertification timing is different for different missiles.

Some of the missiles produced back in the early 1980s are still in the inventory, and need extended life, he said. The earlier Patriot Advanced Capability-1 (PAC-1) missile is still around in some international inventories, as are the PAC-2 and GEM missiles. The latest GEM-T also is held in U.S. and some international inventories.

“We’re now letting international customers, with this decision, assess their inventory requirements and determine–recertification is a given based on dates–but to determine if they want to upgrade,” he said.

All Patriot customers belong to the U.S.-managed Missile Field Surveillance Program. Through this program Raytheon manages the entire inventory, works with the U.S. government and announces when inventory is expired.

Soon, a formal letter will be sent to all international customers, stating the missile can be recertified to extend its life from 30 to 45 years, and that “now is the best time, with warm production lines and a global supply net of 300 suppliers to make a second recertification combined with a GEM T upgrade,” he said.

The Patriot system provides protection against a full range of advanced threats, including aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles. There are 12 nations who own the system around the world.

Raytheon is the prime contractor for both domestic and international Patriot Air and Missile Defense Systems and system integrator for Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missiles. Lockheed Martin [LMT] is the prime for the PAC-3 missile segment upgrade.