Press Officer
Raytheon
Sara Hammond
520.794.7810
March 2005

Raytheon Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles and Standard Missiles launched from Royal Netherlands Navy frigate demonstrate Lethality against maneuvering anti-ship missiles

TUCSON, Ariz., (March 31, 2005) -Raytheon Company Evolved SeaSparrow Missiles (ESSM) and Standard Missiles (SM-2) were launched from a Royal Netherlands Navy Air Defense and command frigate during the week of March 7 in the Atlantic Ocean and achieved six successful intercepts against anti-ship missile surrogate targets.

The missiles and the Trilateral Frigate Cooperation (TFC) Anti-Air Warfare (AAW) System demonstrated tactical and operational capability against stressing targets. The TFC AAW System includes a multi-function radar (MFR) that provided midcourse uplinks for missile navigation and an advanced waveform for target illumination.

The ESSM scenarios included a low-altitude, subsonic maneuvering target and a salvo firing of two ESSMs against a single low-altitude target. The SM-2 scenarios included a long-range, high-altitude, maneuvering target and a salvo firing of two SM-2s against a single medium-altitude target. The first two ESSMs and first two SM-2s had the warheads disabled and guided to within lethal range. The final ESSM and SM-2 had the warheads enabled and both missiles achieved a warhead kill and destroyed their target. The missiles were fired from HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën.

This event was part of the ongoing TFC AAW follow on test and evaluation effort that began with risk reduction firings in November 2003 from the De Zeven Provinciën and continued with the German FGN Sachsen firings in August 2004.

During these firings, ESSM and sm-2 were launched from a Mk41 Vertical Launch System and supported by the thales Nederlands B.V.-developed and produced Active Phased Array Radar (APAR) MFR. The APAR system provides target search, track and weapon support for multiple missiles in flight simultaneously and utilizes ICWI (Interrupted Continuous Wave Illumination) for terminal illumination. As part of the ESSM and SM-2 TFC development programs, signal-processing functionality was expanded to include an ICWI operation mode in both missiles to be compatible with the current and future MFRs.

"This demonstrated ICWI capability is critical for the TFC AAW System used by the Netherlands and German navies and is planned for use in the U.S. Navy DD(X) Combat System which will utilize the Raytheon SPY-3 MFR," said Edward Miyashiro, Raytheon's Naval Weapon System vice president.

"This flight test is proof that ESSM and Standard Missile have been fully integrated into the TFC AAW System and are capable of meeting the requirements of the next generation combat systems and MFRs," said Capt. Mick Outten, the U.S. Navy's program manager, Surface Ship Weapons and Launchers.

ESSM and Standard Missile are advanced ship self-defense and area defense missiles, designed to protect ships by destroying currently fielded and near-term projected anti-ship missiles, including those that fly at low altitudes and maneuver during their terminal flight phase.

Raytheon is producing ESSM and SM-2 at its Missile Systems business unit in Tucson, Ariz., under U.S. Navy contracts for full-rate production. ESSM was developed for the Navy and nine of the other member nations of the NATO SEASSPARROW Consortium. Standard Missile was developed for the U.S. Navy and is sold to allies throughout the world. Further U.S. Navy cooperation on Standard Missile with Germany and the Netherlands has been established under two Memoranda of Understanding signed in November 2004.

Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN), with 2004 sales of $20.2 billion, is an industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 80,000 people worldwide.