Raytheon Snags Navy
Air Defense Contract
ROBERT WALL/WASHINGTON
In an unusual move, the U.S. Navy has decided to forego competition and award Raytheon a contract to develop the service's future ship-launched, long-range air defense missile.
The Navy argued that Raytheon was the only vendor that could meet its goal of fielding the missile by Fiscal 2010 while addressing two key requirements--extended range and the use of an active seeker. Moreover, the service argued that use of a different vendor would increase costs that couldn't be offset through a potential price reduction brought about by competition. However, the move has drawn strong opposition from competitors who felt they were shut out unfairly.
The need for the Extended-Range Active Missile (ERAM) grew out of a Pentagon decision last year to terminate the Navy Area Wide missile defense project. Raytheon's Standard Missile SM-2 Block 4A interceptor was to serve both ballistic missile needs and anti-air warfare requirements. Earlier, the Navy truncated the buy of its SM-2 Block 4 long-range air defense weapon. The decision to kill the SM-2 Block 4A was attributed to significant cost growth in the project, rather than technical difficulties.
The deal cements Raytheon's near-monopoly position as the Navy's supplier of air defense missiles. The service also buys the company's Rolling Airframe Missile and Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile to protect its ships. The Navy, recognizing its close link with Raytheon on missiles, is looking to combine the various offices buying those weapons in one directorate to garner efficiencies, according to Rear Adm. Tom Bush, program executive officer for the service's new Integrated Warfare Systems.
THE ERAM PROJECT WOULD draw on work the Navy and Raytheon put into the canceled SM-2 Block 4A, using the same missile frame, warhead and the motors that were already going to give the weapon the long-range requirement, in excess of 100 naut. mi., the service is interested in. Reuse of those components, many of which were tested in the ballistic missile defense effort, is seen as the main reason the Standard Missile would be much faster to develop than an alternative.
The most significant difference for the Navy will be a switch from a semi-active seeker to an active system. The semi-active configuration in use on older Standard Missiles requires a ship's Aegis radar to illuminate the target. With an active seeker the missile can operate independently, removing the Aegis radar as a constraint. The main advantage would be the ability to attack low-flying targets at ranges beyond the scope of Aegis radar because of the curvature of the Earth.
Rather than develop a new seeker, Raytheon plans to draw on engineering work it has done for the AIM-120 Amraam air-to-air missile, says Jeff McKeel, a company manager overseeing air and missile defense projects. The Standard Missile implementation likely would have much greater range and resolution, however, because the seeker can be larger. Amraam is a 7-in.-dia. missile, while the more than 13-in.-dia. Standard Missile should be able to accommodate an 11-12-in. seeker.
The Navy and Raytheon are expected to spend the next several months defining the ERAM development program. Significant funding to start the system design and demonstration phase won't be available until after October, when the new fiscal year begins. A low-rate production decision isn't expected until 2007 or 2008.
The service also has several other issues it needs to address regarding the new missile. For instance, Navy officials have to decide whether ERAM would supplant the existing inventory of Standard Missile SM-2 Block 3s, or whether both weapons would be retained. Moreover, the Pentagon will have to determine if it wants ERAM to take on some of the lower-tier ballistic missile defense requirements that can't be handled by the exo-atmospheric SM-3. The Missile Defense Agency is looking to SM-3--designed as the upper-tier interceptor--to take on the SM-2 Block 4A's ballistic missile protection role, but won't know for some time whether it can fully meet the requirements. Amraam also features an ability to track an aircraft by locking on its radio frequency emissions. The Navy has not yet stated if it wants to exploit that feature.
© January 27, 2003 The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc
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