Raytheon to provide laser-guided Paveway smart munitions in $110 million 10-year contract
EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. – U.S. Air Force smart munitions experts are asking the Raytheon Co. to build Paveway GPS- and laser-guided aerial weapons under terms of a $110 million 10-year contract announced last week.
Officials of the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., are asking the Raytheon Missile Systems segment in Tucson, Ariz., to produce the Paveway family of weapons, which are conventional gravity bombs that are converted to precision-guided smart munitions with guidance and tail kits.
Paveway munitions use laser guidance, as well as GPS satellite navigation and inertial guidance to glide Paveway bombs precisely to their targets. Paveway kits can attach to 250-, 500-, 1,000-, and 2,000-pound bombs.
The contract involves a total-package approach for Paveway-specific activities including studies, production, certification, integration, and sustainment.
Paveway munitions with multi-guidance systems can decreases the required sortie count and weapon inventory while simultaneously increasing the mission success rate, Raytheon officials say.
Related: Lockheed Martin and Raytheon lock-up contracts for Paveway and AMRAAM smart munitions
Paveway kits attach to a variety of warheads, and consist of a semi-active laser (SAL) seeker, a computer control group (CCG) containing guidance and control electronics, thermal battery, and pneumatic control augmentation system (CAS).
These munitions have front control canards and rear wings for stability. The weapon guides on reflected laser energy: the seeker detects the reflected light ("sparkle") of the designating laser, and actuates the canards to guide the bomb toward the designated point.
This contract involves foreign military sales to the Philippines and to countries with active cases to acquire Paveway weapon systems or have expressed interest in the Paveway family of weapons.
On this contract Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz., and should be finished by February 2029. For more information contact Raytheon Missile Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center-Eglin Air Force Base at www.eglin.af.mil/Units/Armament-Directorate.
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John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
