Due to global demand, Raytheon has restarted its Standard Missile-2 production line to meet the needs of four international customers who aligned requirements and pooled resources to make a ‘bundle’ purchase through foreign military sales.
The Netherlands, Japan, Australia and South Korea are purchasing SM-2 under this new contact.
The missile defends navies against anti-ship missiles and aircraft out to 90 nautical miles and an altitude of 65,000 feet. SM-2 has an extensive flight test history with more than 2,700 successful live firings.
“For many of our allies, SM-2 is the backbone of their fleet defense, but in 2013, we simply didn’t have the international orders necessary to keep the production line going,” said Dr. Taylor W. Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems.
“That’s changed now, and we’ll continue producing SM-2s well beyond 2035.”
The Standard Missile-2 is the world’s premier fleet-area air defense weapon, providing superior anti-air warfare and limited anti-surface warfare capability against today’s advanced anti-ship missiles and aircraft out to 90 nautical miles and an altitude of 65,000 feet.
SM-2 is an integral part of layered defense that protects the world’s important naval assets and gives warfighters a greater reach in the battlespace.
(USS Arleigh Burke successfully launches an SM-2 Standard Missile from the aft Vertical launching System as part of their Combat System Ship Qualification Trials (CSSQT). Courtesy of military videos and YouTube)
SM-2 Block IIIA and IIIB features
- Advanced semi-active radar seeker technologies in both continuous wave and interrupted continuous wave guidance modes
- Tail controls and solid rocket motor propulsion to engage the world’s advanced high-speed maneuvering threats at tactically significant ranges
- IIIB enhances the IIIA’s existing superior capabilities by adding autonomous infrared acquisition
- High-technology active radar target detection device and directional warhead to ensure successful destruction of the target
New deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2020 and will include more than 280 SM-2 Block IIIA and IIIB missiles. Raytheon and the U.S. Navy are using the restart as an opportunity to modernize production and testing processes inside the SM-2 factory.
SM-2 international customers include: Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, Spain and Taiwan.
