RTX Raytheon chosen for radar-guided RIM-162 ESSM Block 2 missile assemblies for shipboard air defense

Summary points:

• RTX Corp. to build next-generation radar-guided missile assemblies for the U.S. Navy, enhancing shipboard defense capabilities.
• RIM-162 ESSM Block 2 missile offers a dual-mode X-band radar seeker, greater maneuverability and the ability to engage threats beyond 25 miles.
• Several NATO allies, including Australia, Germany, and Turkey, will deploy the ESSM Block 2 to strengthen naval defense against air and missile threats.

WASHINGTON – Missile experts at RTX Corp. will build next-generation radar-guided shipboard missile assemblies that are designed to defeat aircraft and missiles under terms of a $67.5 million order announced in late July.

Officials of the U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington are asking the RTX Raytheon segment in Tucson, Ariz., for guided missile assemblies for the RIM-162 Evolved Seasparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2, which uses an active radar seeker than can operate independently of the launch ship.

Missile assemblies are large rocket-type cruise missiles without their explosive warheads. Missiles are rocket-propelled weapons that are designed to deliver an explosive warhead with great accuracy at high speed.

The ESSM Block 2 shipboard missile first was deployed with the U.S. and allied navies in 2020. It is a ship self-defense missile with a dual-mode X-band radar seeker than can engage enemy planes and missiles at ranges beyond 25 miles. RIM stands for radar intercept missile.

Maneuverability and advanced seekers

Compared with its ESSM Block 1 predecessor, the ESSM Block 2 anti-air missile has increased maneuverability and other enhancements that enable the missile to defeat future threats to U.S. and allied navies operating in hostile environments, Raytheon officials say. The ESSM Block 2’s active radar seeker will support terminal engagement without the launch ship’s target illumination radars.

In addition to the U.S. Navy, the governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey will operate ESSM Block 2 anti-air missile.

The ESSM shipboard air-defense munition is a medium-range, semi-active homing missile that makes flight corrections via radar and midcourse data uplinks. The missile provides reliable ship self-defense capability against agile, high-speed, low-altitude anti-ship cruise missiles, low velocity air threats like helicopters, and high-speed, maneuverable surface threats.

The missile is 12 feet long and has 10-inch-diameter control and rocket motor sections that tapper to an 8-inch-diameter guidance section with a radome-protected antenna for semi-active homing and a warhead. It has a high-thrust, solid-propellant rocket motor and tail control via a thrust vector controller.

Tell me more about shipboard air defense ...

• Shipboard air defense protects surface warships from aerial attack from aircraft, missiles, and uncrewed vehicles. Key components include radar, point-defense systems, surface-to-air missiles, and electronic warfare (EW). Surface-to-air missiles can engage airborne threats at relatively long distances, and can involve the Sea Sparrow short-to-medium-range missile for defending against anti-ship missiles; and Standard Missile 2 (SM-2) and SM-6 for engaging air and ballistic-missile threats. EW systems can defeat or confuse enemy radar and missile targeting systems, involving jammers, and decoys. Ships also may deploy anti-drone systems to neutralize these threats, or use their own drones for surveillance and early detection.

The first production ESSM Block 1 was delivered in late 2002 and has been in full operational use in the U.S. since 2004.

Raytheon will do the work on this order in Tucson, Ariz.; Edinburgh and Eight Mile Plains, Australia; Mississauga and Cambridge, Ontario; San Jose, Torrance, and Westlake Village, Calif.; Ottobrunn, Germany; Nashua, N.H.; Raufoss, Norway; Andover, Mass.; Koropi Attica, Greece; Canton, N.Y.; Grenaa, Denmark; Aranjuez, Spain; Hengelo OV, the Netherlands; Lystrup, Denmark; Ankara, Turkey, Camden, Ark.; Milwaukie, Ore.; and other locations, and should be finished by September 2030.

For more information contact RTX Raytheon www.rtx.com/raytheon/what-we-do/sea/essm-missile, or Naval Sea Systems Command at www.navsea.navy.mil.