MDA extends SM-3 Block IIA work until December 2022

11th June 2021 - 14:30 GMT | by The Shephard News Team

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SM-3 Block IIA pictured in a test firing. (Photo: MDA)

Raytheon will upgrade, integrate, and test SM-3 Block IIA flight test round software under latest MDA contract modification.

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) in the US has extended until the end of 2022 a contract for Raytheon to provide long-lead materiel for the Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IIA missile and related support efforts.

The value of the SM-3 Block IIA contract is increased by $36.68 million to reach a cumulative total of $2.65 billion since the original award in July 2015, the DoD noted on 10 June.

Under this modification, Raytheon will upgrade, integrate, and test SM-3 Block IIA flight test round software; revise environmental qualification plans for compliance with updated qualification standards; facilitate a preliminary qualification event; support an accelerated flight test date; and initiate activities to begin the transition to production.

Raytheon co-developed SM-3 Block IIA with Japanese company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

In November 2020, the MDA revealed a successful interception test of an intercontinental ballistic missile target, using an SM-3 Block IIA interceptor.