The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon a five-year contract worth up to $24.4 billion to accelerate production of the Standard Missile-6, its principal long-range anti-air and anti-surface weapon.
Announced on 1 October by Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, the multi-year procurement agreement includes two additional option years. The U.S. Navy says the long-term commitment is intended to give the RTX business the stability and predictability needed to expand production capacity, while delivering cost savings through a negotiated deal rather than year-by-year buys.
“Maritime strength demands weapons at speed and scale,” Cao said in the release. “This investment expands production and delivers the firepower our warfighters need to fight, win, and come home safe.”
The SM-6 has become one of the most versatile weapons in the surface fleet’s inventory. Fired from the Mk 41 Vertical Launch System aboard Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Ticonderoga-class cruisers, it can engage aircraft, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles in their terminal phase, and can also be used against surface ships. Its active radar seeker allows it to engage targets beyond the horizon of the launching ship when cued by other sensors, a key element of the U.S. Navy’s Cooperative Engagement Capability. U.S. warships have fired SM-6s in combat during operations in the Red Sea and Middle East since late 2023, including against Houthi anti-ship missiles, drawing down stocks of a weapon that costs several million dollars per round.
Adm. Daryl Caudle, Chief of Naval Operations, linked the contract directly to the size of the fleet’s magazines. “Combat credibility depends on having enough weapons, produced at the speed and scale the Fleet requires,” he said. “This SM-6 award gives industry the demand signal and stability to expand production, strengthen the munitions industrial base, and build the magazine depth our Fleet needs. That is the Foundry delivering for the Fleet – and ensuring our Sailors have the combat power to fight and win.”
The award is being managed by the U.S. Navy’s Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) Munitions, an organisation responsible for the development, procurement and delivery of naval munitions and strike capabilities. It follows a recent Tomahawk contract, which the service describes as part of the same effort to speed up weapons production across the portfolio.
“This award demonstrates what is possible when the Department leverages innovative acquisition approaches to deliver capability at the speed of relevance,” said Van Hendrey, Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Munitions. “Through PAE Munitions, we are bringing together the authorities, resources, and partnerships needed to accelerate production, reduce costs, and strengthen the industrial base that supports our warfighters.”
Raytheon produces the SM-6 at its facilities in Tucson, Arizona, with final assembly at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. The missile has also been cleared for export to a number of U.S. allies, with Japan and Australia among the nations to have pursued it for their own air defence destroyers.
According to the U.S. Navy, the agreement will support a larger workforce, higher manufacturing throughput and stronger supply chains for the missile, as part of a wider push to rebuild the defence industrial base and keep Navy and Marine Corps forces supplied with advanced weapons.
If announcements were missiles then the USA wouldn’t be having to withdraw all its forces from the Middle East. I suspect despite the never ending announcements and dumper trucks of cash being levied at us defence contractors I doubt we will see much of an increase in missiles.
Despite the obvious animus, it appears like the Americans are at least trying to address some of the frailties exposed by the current conflicts. Instead of sticking their heads in the sand and hoping it goes away. The UK announcements, without the dumper trucks of cash I hasten to add, tend to be about things that don’t even exist yet.
This might be part of a growing pattern: the US has also spent a ton of cash on trying to bolster its shipyards in recent years – both for construction and for maintenance – but there aren’t many signs of that having made a difference.
Perhaps the mainstream opinion will be provided wrong and that regular testosterone injections WILL turn out to be the magic bullet that gets the US military firms up the US military again. Lol.
Certainly Ukraine and the ongoing nonsense in Iran has proven how thin the west was in relation to stores, supplies and ammunition of all natures! However all this needs time, as we are all aware (at least this who are interested) just how long the manufacture of platforms and assets now takes!