, ST. LOUIS: The Boeing Company has delivered the U.S. Army's 500th Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) Missile seeker, a component that enables the weapon system to detect and track targets. Lockheed Martin Corp. is the PAC-3 Missile prime contractor.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin, along with government and industry partners, celebrated the December 2006 delivery milestone during a March 8 ceremony at Boeing's Missile Defense Systems production facility in Huntsville, Ala.
The PAC-3 Missile, which the U.S. Army has deployed overseas, is a high-velocity, hit-to-kill missile and the newest addition to the Patriot family of missiles. The seeker detects and tracks the target during the terminal phase of an engagement, providing data to the missile's on-board guidance system.
“The PAC-3 Missile, the most advanced air defense missile in the world, is battle-proven to defend with hit-to-kill precision against a range of threats, including ballistic and cruise missiles,” said Debra Rub-Zenko, vice president of Boeing Integrated Missile Defense Systems. “The seeker team is focused on quality above all else to ensure it will succeed every time the PAC-3 Missile is called on to protect our warfighters, friends and allies against hostile forces.”
“There are two fundamental elements to achieving the precision necessary to effect highly reliable hit to kill lethality — extremely responsive guidance of the missile airframe and very accurate information about the target in the moments before target intercept,” said Richard McDaniel, director of the PAC-3 Missile program at Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. “The Boeing PAC-3 Missile seeker gives us this information, reliably, in any flight environment. Reaching this major production milestone is a testament to the PAC-3 Missile team's willingness to go the extra mile to meet the delivery needs that enable us to provide the world's most advanced air defense missile when and where the U.S. Army and our allies need it.”
Boeing's PAC-3 Missile seeker work includes production, assembly, integration and testing at the Huntsville facility. In El Paso, Texas, Boeing employees produce and test circuit card assemblies for the seeker. Boeing's PAC-3 Missile program office and design engineering functions, located in Anaheim, Calif., have program management and design responsibility for the seeker.
In addition to its work on the PAC-3 Missile program, Boeing holds key roles in several other elements of the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System architecture. Boeing is prime contractor for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense system and the Airborne Laser. It also integrates and tests the kinetic warhead for the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system's Standard Missile-3.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $32.4 billion business with 72,000 employees worldwide.
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