By B.C. Kessner
FARNBOROUGH, England—Raytheon [RTN] Tuesday said that Kuwait and South Korea would be getting Patriot upgrades on separate deals worth about $195 million.
“These contracts are continuing evidence of the resurgence of Patriot today,” Skip Garrett, vice president and deputy for the company’s Patriot programs, told reporters during a briefing here.
Raytheon received a $156 million Foreign Military Sales award from the Army to provide Kuwait with Patriot Configuration-3 radar upgrade kits and related services. Kuwait’s upgrades are consistent with those in the Army’s “Pure Fleet” initiative, Garrett said.
The COMLOG joint venture between Raytheon and MBDA‘s LFK subsidiary in Germany paid Raytheon $38.5 million to upgrade South Korean Patriot missiles. This follows the sale of Patriot systems from Germany to South Korea’s air force.
64 Korean Patriot Advanced Capability-2 missiles will be upgraded to Guidance Enhanced Missile-Tactical (GEM-T) configuration. GEM-T provides added capability against theater ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and remote piloted vehicles.
Garrett said the U.S. Army also placed an order recently worth $34.4 million, continuing the Pure Fleet initiative.
According to Garrett, there is an enormous amount of overseas interest in Patriot and its latest upgrades.
“There are huge growth opportunities,” Garrett told Defense Daily during an interview Sunday. He said more than half of the Patriots ever built are abroad with U.S. allies. “There is significant interest by potential new customers,” he added.
South Korea was the 10th international Patriot customer, Garrett said.
There are about seven countries that do not have Patriot, but are expressing interest, Garrett added.
His briefing slides showed almost an equal number of current-user countries that Raytheon thinks are interested in upgrades or new Patriot systems.
Garrett said Raytheon is in discussions and intends to bid with Patriot on a missile defense system for India. The company is also working closely with the U.S. government and the United Arab Emirates. “Expect a Foreign Military Sales announcement relatively soon,” Garrett said.
Raytheon spun off a new division to handle Patriot’s resurgence and growth opportunities. Upgrades to Patriot Advanced Capability-3 Configuration 3, and the range of missile and software enhancements allow the venerable system to engage farther and higher, Garrett said.
“This is not your father’s Patriot system,” he added.