Raytheon Company has begun work on enhancements to the combat-proven Patriot Air and Missile Defense System that will make the system more capable, and improve Patriot's already high readiness.

The U.S. Army Contracting Command issued the contract, which was funded by the 13 nations that rely on Patriot for their defense. It was announced by the Department of Defense on Feb 1, and will sustain more than 500 highly skilled jobs across four U.S. states.

"This contract will deliver critical capability to the warfighter while also employing highly skilled Americans," said Ralph Acaba, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business. "The members of the Patriot partnership share the cost of engineering services, which could be prohibitively expensive for a single nation."

Contract work will be performed at locations in Alabama, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Texas. Raytheon will conduct software development, systems analysis, testing and logistics support, as well as support requirements defined by individual Patriot partner nations.

Source:prnewswire.com