Mary-Louise Hoffman
Raytheon has handed a Standard Missile-3 weapon over to the U.S. Navy with the goal of intercepting short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
This marks the first time the company delivered SM-3 from its new Huntsville, Ala., facility, which also produces the Standard Missile-6 interceptor, Raytheon said Tuesday.
Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon's missile systems business, said the weapon is used worldwide to help defend against enemy ballistic missiles.
SM-3 does not carry an explosive payload and works by destroying missile threats through sheer force of impact, according to the company,
The U.S. and Japanese navies have received more than 135 SM-3 interceptors and Raytheon aims to deploy an SM-3 Block IB guided missile by 2015.
