An undisclosed member of the 13 nations which owns and operates the combat-proven Patriot Integrated Air and Missile Defense System has awarded Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) a direct commercial sales contract worth more than $600 million to upgrade the system to the most current configuration.

"Patriot saves lives," said Ralph Acaba, Raytheon vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense. "Our customer faces a very real, evolving threat; by upgrading Patriot, they will continue to protect their civilians, military and critical infrastructure."

The direct commercial sales contract, awarded on Dec. 28th, will upgrade the customer's Patriot systems to the most advanced configuration available. Configuration 3+ with the Post Deployment Build 8 software and hardware suite:

   * Enables Patriot to use the PAC-3 MSE interceptor missile
   * Enhances Patriot's ability to destroy tactical ballistic missiles

The contract was awarded less than 120 days after Poland officially requested Patriot from the United States government. During that time:

   * An undisclosed customer awarded Raytheon $225 million for additional Patriot capability
   * The Netherlands awarded Raytheon a contract to begin modernizing its Patriot systems  

Since December 2014, and including this most recent contract, the 13 Patriot partners have invested more than $7.8 billion in procuring and upgrading the system.

Source:raytheon.mediaroom.com