Raytheon Awarded US Navy’s $190.5M Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile Block 2 Modification Contract

Raytheon has won a $190.5 million contract to supply US Navy with materials and spares in support of fiscal 2019 Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) Block 2 low-rate initial production requirements.

This contract will procure the remaining materials in support of the ESSM fiscal 2019 low-rate initial production Lots One through Three all-up rounds and spares requirements. The ESSM program is an international cooperative effort to design, develop, test and procure ESSM missiles. The ESSM provides enhanced ship defense, the US Department of Defense said in a statement Wednesday.

Work is expected to be completed by March 2023.

The RIM-162 is a development of the RIM-7 Sea Sparrow missile used to protect ships from attacking missiles and aircraft. ESSM is designed to counter supersonic manoeuvring anti-ship missiles. It has the ability to be "quad-packed" in the Mark 41 Vertical Launch System, allowing up to four ESSMs to be carried in a single cell.

The ESSM consortium members include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Turkey and the US.