Arizona missile company awarded $543M contact to produce missile interceptors

PHOENIX — An Arizona-based missile company has been awarded a $543 million contact to produce more than a dozen missile interceptors, according to the Phoenix Business Journal.

Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson was awarded the contract by the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to produce 17 missile interceptors for “operational testing and initial deployment,” according to the article.

The program has been dubbed as the Standard Missile-3 Block IIA program. It was developed by the Missile Defense Agency and Japan Ministry of Defense.

While the company is based in Tucson, the missile interceptors will be produced in Tucson, Huntsville, Alabama; Andover, Massachusetts; and Goleta, California.

The company has recently made headlines after a U.S. Air Force Space commander called its operational control system a “disaster,” according to the article. General John Hyten said he would not support the project to due to a “two-year delay and just over 80 percent cost increase.”

Raytheon’s Vice President Mitch Stevison said the project would be deployed in 2018.

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