TUCSON, Ariz., 19 Dec. 2008. The Raytheon Company-Lockheed Martin Javelin Joint Venture won a $29.9 million U.S. Marine Corps contract to upgrade 404 Block 0 command launch units to Block I. The upgrade will extend the detection, recognition, and identification range of the CLUs while doubling the operating time.
"One of the many advantages of the Block I is that it increases the radius of lethality by 38 percent," says Duane Gooden, Raytheon Missile Systems Javelin program director and president of the Javelin Joint Venture. "Enemy forces in Iraq and Afghanistan are engaging our warfighters with machine gun fire and mortars at a range of 2,500 meters (more than 8,200 feet). The upgrade to Block I gives U.S. Marines the ability to employ the Javelin missile within that same effective range."
Javelin is the world's first man-portable, fire-and-forget, medium-range missile system. The compact, lightweight missile is designed for one-soldier operations in all environments.
The joint venture team began the upgrade program in October 2008 and expects to complete it by spring 2011.
"This retrofit is a great opportunity to provide CLU Block I technology to the U.S. Marine Corps," says Hady Mourad, Lockheed Martin Javelin program director and vice president of the Javelin Joint Venture. "Our employees are dedicated to providing the best available technology to the great defenders of our nation. Remanufacturing fielded hardware to increase the warfighter's capabilities in the field is only one way we make this happen."
