OREANDA-NEWS. The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a $159.9 million contract to manufacture, inspect and test Phalanx Close-in Weapon Systems (CIWS).
The contract, which provides for a $10 million option in FY15 and another valued at $291 million in FY16, includes support equipment for the Phalanx and SeaRAM Weapon Systems, Block 1B radar upgrades and kits for reliability, maintainability, and availability. The contract also covers overhaul of four Land-based Phalanx Weapon Systems.

"Phalanx provides the U.S. Navy's ships with a 'last-chance' defense against anti-ship missiles and littoral warfare threats while SeaRAM extends that inner-layer battlespace," said Rick Nelson, vice president of Raytheon's Naval and Area Mission Defense product line. "Close-in systems give warfighters the ability to automatically carry out functions usually performed by separate systems on other ships."

Work under the contract, which was signed in the third quarter of 2015, is expected to be completed by August 2018 in Louisville, Kentucky.

This contract was announced by the Department of Defense on September, 30, 2015.