By Ann Roosevelt
Raytheon [RTN] yesterday said it received a not-to-exceed $3.3 billion order to provide new, advanced Patriot air and missile defense systems, whole life support and training for the United Arab Emirates.
“I think it’s a testament to Raytheon’s relationship with the UAE,” Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) President Daniel Smith told Defense Daily. “We first went there in the ’80s and they bought the Hawk system from us and we’ve been with them for all these years, so when they decided to go to the next generation of systems, they came to us.”
William Swanson, Raytheon chairman and CEO, said in a statement: “…we are honored that the UAE government has entrusted us to deliver this unique capability to support the defense of its country.”
In financial terms, the contract is bigger than Raytheon normally receives and larger than it usually receives in the international marketplace, Smith said.
“We have worked very diligently with the U.S. Army and Lockheed Martin and with others to try and get this under contract,” he said. “From the perspective here, it will allow us to continue to manufacture Patriot for the foreseeable future. It obviously is going to have impact in terms of people working working on the job…that will all come to fruition as we plan out the project.”
As a not-to-exceed contract, over the next four months or so, the contract will be defined and the statement of work will be agreed to.
“Actually we’ll be ramping up the production line and the majority of the work is slated to be done in Andover, Mass., in our factory,” Smith said. “We have been working with our key suppliers on this, there’s over a thousand suppliers total in the Patriot program.”
Ratheon IDS has been working with key suppliers since early fall ensuring parts can be produced and timelines are understood.
“We’ve got a head start on this, but it will, in fact, increase our production throughput in the factory,” he said.
A cooperative team approach led by the U.S. government, with the UAE government, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin [LMT], Army and State Department worked out the agreement. The U.S. government approved the Foreign Military Sale of Patriot Configuration 3 capabilities that include the Patriot GEM-T and Lockheed Martin PAC-3 missiles. On Dec. 17, the Army Aviation and Missile Command issued the order to Raytheon IDS
“I would guess from the original letter to now it’s probably not 18 months,” Smith said. Deliveries in country will likely begin at the end of 2012.
Raytheon IDS is the prime contractor, domestically and internationally, for the Patriot air and missile defense weapon capability and the system integrator for the Config-3 system.
Raytheon established its first UAE office in 1983 and in 1987 began delivery and support of the medium range Hawk Air Defense System.
The UAE joins 11 other countries that use the Patriot system.