Article Posted on : - Mar 18, 2010

A file photo of Patriot missile.

TEWKSBURY, US (BNS): The US Army has awarded a $11.9 million contract to Raytheon to provide material and technical support to the Patriot Missile Field Surveillance programme.

The contract is a modification to a three-year contract awarded to the company in January 2008 for the Patriot air and missile defense system.

Under the modified contract, Raytheon will continue to support the manufacturing, assembling and testing of Patriot missiles in 2010, it said.

"This work supports all Patriot customers -- the US and our 11 international partners -- that have selected the combat-proven Patriot as the foundation of their air and missile defense strategy," said Sanjay Kapoor, vice president for Patriot Programs at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS).

The Patriot missile is a pre-eminent theater air and missile defense system and US's only deployed, land-based, short-to-medium range ballistic missile defense system. It has also being deployed by several NATO nations.

The missile is capable of hitting targets such as aircraft, tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.