“This will be a great thing for the Medium Range Intercept Capability program and for the USMC, if this occurs,” Don Kelley, the Marine Corps Program Executive Officer Land Systems Ground-Based Air Defense program manager, said of a US production facility.
"The defense industry was historically constrained by a mindset that time in the job was the only way to obtain competence," writes Jennifer Brummund of Raytheon. "While we value and are proud to retain our longtime employees, we also need to welcome those just starting out."
While key executives tell Breaking Defense they have adjusted to the new normal, experts worry IT supply chain vulnerabilities could be exploited in the future by adversarial nations.
"We have to try to work on accelerating our build timelines," Kremer said of fast-tracking critical defense articles. "But I think [governments] have to also take on the challenge of, how do you get the industry under contracts quicker."
Separately, the US cleared a potential $15 billion sale to Poland for Patriot air defense systems and related equipment.
Wes Kremer, the head of the newly reorganized Raytheon company under RTX, tells Breaking Defense that the company eliminated 60 to 70 percent of situations where there was overlap among business units with its new structure.
Cooling needs for the Joint Strike Fighter have taxed the F-35’s engine beyond its design specifications, prompting a need for separate upgrades to its powerplant and cooling system that Raytheon sees as an opening.
Company executive Pini Yungman told Breaking Defense a deal with Finland could just be the start.
The Army is progressing in its EW portfolio "after a few solid years of investment, lots of support from the Army and from [the Defense Department]," Kenneth Strayer said.
The company, just 55 employees strong, boasts a unique approach to additive manufacturing of lightweight, versatile composites well-suited to aerospace applications from fighter aircraft and drones to hypersonics.
The SPY-1 radar, after first coming online in the 1970s, is used by the US Navy as well as the navies of Australia, Japan, Norway, Spain and South Korea.
The Lockheed and Raytheon team aim to produce 3,960 missiles per year by late 2026 for the Army and "to support the increased international interest for this multi-purpose weapon system," company VP Dave Pantano said.
TITAN is the service’s ground station meant to process data from space and land-based "sensors" using artificial intelligence, which will then be sent off to the right "shooter" — part of the core concept of JADC2.
Raytheon executives said they see improvement for components like electronics, though shortages continue for castings, rocket motors and other key parts.
The service selected the C-130J-30 in December 2020 to be the base aircraft of the NC3 aircraft dubbed E-XX TACAMO.