Raytheon awarded $212.8 million to produce Evolved Seasparrow Missile

TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 10, 2012. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) was awarded two contracts totaling $212.8 million for the production of the Evolved Seasparrow Missile, with an option for $33 million in additional work.

The first contract from the U.S. Navy NATO Seasparrow Project Office (NSPO), as previously announced by the Department of Defense, is for the production of ESSMs through fiscal year 2014 and contains the option for further production. The agreement also provides NSPO consortium-member navies with miscellaneous spare parts, containers and test equipment.

The second contract is a two-year direct commercial sale. Raytheon will provide Mitsubishi Electric Corporation of Japan the components and assemblies necessary to manufacture and deliver ESSM weapons to the Japanese Ministry of Defense. Licensed production will take place at MELCO's facility in Japan.

ESSM defends the battlespace by delivering ship self-defense firepower against high-G maneuvering anti-ship cruise missiles as well as surface and low-velocity air threats. ESSM consortium countries include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Turkey and the United States. Japan and UAE are also ESSM customer nations.