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Boston. Raytheon is improving the capabilities of all its missiles,
to benefit not only the US forces but also those of other countries which are
buying these weapons. There is increased interaction with various countries, and
for the UAE, which concluded a USD 3.3 billion deal in for the Patriot air defence
missile system in December 2008, new state of the art ground up systems are being
developed. Raytheon capabilities are: INTEGRATED
AIR AND MISSILE DEFENSE Raytheon is a world leader in integrated air and
missile defense architectures and its Patriot and Hawk systems have decades of
proven performance around the world. Working together in a layered approach, Patriot,
Surface Launched AMRAAM and Hawk XXI (which can be upgraded to Surfaced Launched
AMRAAM) can intercept incoming targets at altitudes and ranges, allowing them
to protect against almost any combination of incoming hostile threats. PATRIOT
AIR AND MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM Patriot is the world’s only combatproven
long-range air and missile defense system. Today, Patriot is deployed by 12 countries
around the world, including the U.S. Army, which uses it as the foundation of
its integrated air and missile defense strategy. Raytheon’s first international
customer was the Royal Netherlands Air Force in 1984, and its most recent customer
is the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who signed a $3.3 billion contract for new ground-up
production systems in 2008. EVOLVING THREATS/ CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT Patriot development
began in the 1970s due to the U.S. Army’s recognition of new and evolving threats.
The goal: engineer an air and missile defense system to counter the full spectrum
of threats, including existing air breathing threats and evolving cruise missiles
and tactical ballistic missiles. SPIRAL DEVELOPMENT
Patriot first met combat in Israel and Saudi Arabia during Operation Desert
Storm in 1991. After the confiict, thorough analysis of Patriot’s performance
was used to implement a spiral improvement program to continuously deploy increased
performance benefits to warfighters quicklyfi Quick Response improvements were
implemented right away. Other enhancements were implemented in three time phases:
Configuration-1 to Configuration-3. The phased enhancements expanded Patriot
mobility, footprint and performance in cluttered environments. As Patriot was
improved, all previous capabilities were re-validated to ensure that performance
wasn’t sacrificed, only increased. Configuration-3 specifically provided the following
benefits: - Improved radar multifunction performance and detection of
small targets in cluttered environments
- Enhanced radar-range performance
with classification, discrimination and identification capabilities that better
discriminate and identify a tactical ballistic missile warhead from other target
debris or objects
- Expanded Patriot defense area significantly, with improved
remote launch capabilities.
 OPERATION
IRAQI FREEDOM
In Operation Iraqi Freedom, Patriot successfully intercepted
nine of nine tactical ballistic missiles that would have had destructive impact
to high-value assets in Kuwait. All operational modes were tested: intercepts
were accomplished by the U.S. Army and the Kuwaiti air force using both the GEM-T
and PAC-3 missile configurations. RESURGENCE OF
PATRIOT Today, the U.S. Army is expanding their tactical Patriot systems
by adding two tactical battalions. Referred to as the Grow-the-Army initiative,
they are taking some of their existing Patriot systems, currently used for training
and as float systems, and upgrading them to the latest Configuration-3 baseline
to be used as tactical systems. Additionally, all of the U.S. Army’s remaining
Patriot systems are being upgraded to full Configuration-3 capability. The
UAE is purchasing new groundup production systems that will use state-of-the-art
technology. New production systems will have the same performance as Configuration-3
systems and benefit from improved reliability and maintainability. In one instance,
nine racks of equipment will be replaced with just one chassis. Allies can purchase
new production systems to add to their inventory, as well as purchase upgrade
kits to take advantage of the reliability enhancements. Taiwan plans to
add to its Patriot inventory and is upgrading existing systems to Configuration-3.
Kuwait and Japan are upgrading to Configuration-3. Turkey, Qatar, Poland, Kuwait,
India, Greece and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have expressed interest in Patriot
upgrades, additional fire units, or to purchase new systems. HAWK
XXI AIR AND MISSILE DEFENSE SYSTEM Raytheon’s Hawk XXI, the latest variant
of the combat proven Hawk system, is designed to defeat fixed wing, helicopters,
UAVs, cruise missiles and short-range ballistic missiles. Hawk XXI provides good
capability against short-range missiles, while Patriot’s strength is against long-range
threats. Together, they provide complementary protection as part of an integrated
air and missile defense strategy. Hawk XXI’s command and control is the same state-of-the
art system used in the Surface Launched AMRAAM. The same three-dimensional Sentinel
radar is also used, cutting in half the time to acquire, track and engage a missile.
Hawk XXI has improved system lethality against today ’s threats and emerging threats
of tomorrow. With continuous technology enhancements, Hawk XXI remains one of
the world’s most advanced and reliable air defense systems. GLOBAL
DEPLOYMENT OF HAWK Hawk was first fielded in 1959 by the U.S. Army and
U.S. Marine Corps as the world’s first mobile air defense system. It was deployed
on the U.S. coast and during the high profile Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. Thereafter,
international countries began to add Hawk to their defense inventory, including
the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, Israel, Japan and others. At its peak,
Hawk was in frontline service with 20 allied nations worldwide. It was also used
in numerous confiicts. In 1965, it was the first surface-to-air missile system
deployed in Vietnam and its radars were used for air defense surveillance. In
1967, Israeli troops downed several Egyptian jets with Hawk missiles, and in 1990
Kuwaiti Hawk batteries downed 22 attacking Iraqi aircraft. Hawk was also deployed
during Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1991. TECHNOLOGICAL
EVOLUTION During its 50-year history, Hawk has gone through a series of
major spiral development efforts, including Basic Hawk, Improved Hawk, Product
Improvement Program (PIP) 1-3, and today’s Hawk XXI, which can be further upgraded
to Raytheon’s Surface Launched AMRAAM. 1984 marked the last ground-up production
of Hawk, but even so, technology continued to be infused to stay ahead of evolving
threats. Currently, 17 countries operate Hawk as part of their air and
missile defense strategy. All are either at the PIP-2 or PIP-3 level, or have
upgraded to Hawk XXI. During Operation Desert Storm, the first fully integrated
Hawk/Patriot task force was operated. A single Patriot information coordination
central controlled two Patriot batteries and four Hawk batteries. This was the
first time a battalion level command and control allocated targets to Patriot
and Hawk batteries. LEVERAGE HAWK XXI OR GROW TO
SURFACE LAUNCHED AMRAAM Countries can continue to improve Hawk or they
can upgrade it to transition to Surface Launched AMRAAM. Some countries value
having the combined capability of Hawk XXI and Surface Launched AMRAAM. Hawk
XXI provides limited tactical ballistic missile capability, as well as supports
longer ranges and higher altitudes than Surface Launched AMRAAM. Countries that
upgrade to Surface Launched AMRAAM realize the benefits of higher .re power. The
Surface Launched AMRAAM missile is an active missile. To illuminate its target,
Surface Launched AMRAAM has its own transmitter and receiver while Hawk XXI relies
on the ground radar. As a result, Surface Launched AMRAAM enables missiles to
be shot at many targets simultaneously. Active seeker missiles, however,
are more expensive than the semi-active ones used in Hawk XXI. Upgrading to Hawk
XXI improves Hawk and allows for the infusion of Surfaced Launched AMRAAM into
Hawk at a slower, affordable rate. The command and control, as well as the Sentinel
radar for Hawk XXI are the same so the upgrade to Surface Launched AMRAAM begins
when upgrading to Hawk XXI. IN–COUNTRY INDUSTRIAL
PARTICIPATION As countries retire their Hawk systems, Raytheon works with
the U.S. Army to refurbish them to “new” Hawk XXI condition, and then offers them
to allied nations. Romania, for example, got their Hawk systems from the Netherlands.
This refurbishment and upgrade to state-of-the-art Hawk XXI can be done within
the country purchasing the system, providing industrial participation opportunities,
while extending protection to allied nations affordably around the globe. (The
author is Vice President, Raytheon, for the Patriot Program) | 
