Raytheon to provide encryption and cyber security upgrades for Patriot missile system

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala., 25 Aug. 2016.Cyber security experts at Raytheon Co. will provide encryption and cyber protection for the U.S. Army Patriot air-defense and anti-ballistic-missile system under terms of a $18.1 million contract announced this week.

Officials of the Army Contracting Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., are asking the Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems segment in Andover, Mass., to provide 206 cryptographic modernization kits for Patriot missile systems.

The Army Raytheon Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) that uses the Raytheon AN/MPQ-53 phased-array radar for high- to medium-altitude air defense against enemy aircraft and ballistic missiles. Army leaders want to keep Patriot in the field until at least 2040.

The Patriot missile is designed to shoot down enemy aircraft as well as incoming missiles. The interrogator identifies friend and foe (IFF) aircraft. Missiles are identified and tracked with radar. Tobyhanna has been repairing and testing the interrogator for more than 20 years.

Army officials are seeking to safeguard the Patriot missile system with encryption and cyber security to safeguard the weapon's communications and data storage systems to prevent its technology from being captured by potential adversaries.

On this contract Raytheon will do the work in Andover, Mass.; Nashua, N.H.; and Burlington, Mass., and should be finished by October 2018. For more information contact the Army Contracting Command-Redstone at http://acc.army.mil/contractingcenters/acc-rsa, or Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems at www.raytheon.com.

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