OREANDA-NEWS. The Netherlands Ministry of Defense is adding Raytheon Company's (NYSE: RTN) Excalibur Ib artillery rounds to its arsenal under a previously announced foreign military sales agreement, underscoring growing international interest in the precision-guided projectile.

The Netherlands is the second Excalibur lb customer in Europe after Sweden, the U.S. government's development partner for the 155 mm round. Deliveries are expected to begin later this year.

"When fired from the Dutch PzH 2000 artillery system, Excalibur can fly up to 50 kilometers, score a direct hit and deliver lethal effects in all types of weather and battlefield conditions," said Mark Hokeness, Raytheon's Excalibur program director. "The Netherlands joins a growing list of nations acquiring this highly sophisticated artillery munition, which uses GPS guidance to provide accurate, first-round effects capability at extended ranges."

The U.S. Army has determined Excalibur Ib is fully compatible with the PzH 2000, a self-propelled howitzer produced in Germany and fielded by several nations.

About Excalibur

Excalibur is a precision-guided, extended-range projectile that uses GPS guidance to provide accurate, first-round-effects capability in any environment. Excalibur's level of precision delivers a major reduction in the time, cost and logistical burden associated with using other artillery munitions. Excalibur has been fielded by the U.S. Army, Marines and several international military forces.

  • Combat-proven: Nearly 770 Excalibur rounds have been fired in combat with exceptional accuracy and lethality.
  • Precise: Excalibur consistently strikes less than two meters from a precisely-located target.
  • Safe: Excalibur's precision avoids collateral damage and has been employed within 75 meters of supported troops.
  • Affordable: With its first round effects, Excalibur reduces total mission cost and time and the user's logistics burden.
  • Evolving: Raytheon has demonstrated a dual-mode GPS/semi-active laser seeker Excalibur variant to compensate for target location error, maintain precision in GPS denied or degraded environments, and enable engagement of relocated or moving targets.
  • Entering New Markets: With Excalibur N5, navies will be able to deliver extended range, precision naval surface fires from existing 5-inch/127 mm guns.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of \\$23 billion and 61,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 93 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as cybersecurity and a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass.