Raytheon Paveway IV Enters Service on U.K. Harrier GR9 Aircraft

HARLOW, England --- Raytheon Company's Paveway IV weapon system completed all evaluation activities, clearing it to enter service with the U.K.'s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Harrier GR9 aircraft.>> Following the demonstration of capability trials at the U.S. Navy's Air Warfare Center China Lake, Calif., the U.K. Ministry of Defence accepted the weapon system into operational service.>> "This is a tremendous achievement and a testament to the team ethos and trust forged between all stakeholders," said John Michel, Raytheon Systems Limited acting director of Precision Systems. "Paveway IV provides the U.K. MoD with a world-class strike capability, advanced flexibility and significantly improved safety characteristics. Raytheon is proud to have delivered this system to the U.K. Armed Forces in support of current operational requirements.">> U.K. MoD Freefall Integrated Project Team Leader Captain Howard Holdsworth, Royal Navy, said: "Paveway IV will provide those at the front line with a hugely flexible and very welcome capability. This is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work on the part of the stakeholder community, both in the MoD and Industry. We can be justifiably proud of our achievements; Paveway IV is a very capable weapon system indeed.">> Paveway IV is being integrated onto all U.K. fixed-wing strike platforms including the Tornado GR4, Eurofighter Typhoon and the Joint Combat Aircraft.>> The Paveway IV weapon system provides a low-cost, day-or-night, all-weather, general purpose precision bombing capability. Compared with standard 500-pound class weapons, the enhanced capabilities of Paveway IV include: insensitive munition warhead with increased penetration; cockpit selectable terminal fuzing with air burst and post impact delay; highly reliable second environment sensing via unique arming maneuver; delayed arming to minimize collateral damage; and GPS anti-jam resistance via inertial-only guidance mode.