"Raytheon has been a member of the Huntsville community and a committed Army partner for many years," said William H. Swanson, Raytheon chairman and chief executive officer.

"From our Patriot and HAWK air and missile defense systems, to land combat weapons such as Stinger, TOW and Javelin, to cutting- edge missile defense technologies, Raytheon has been partnering with the Army in Huntsville for decades to provide solutions for our warfighters. We hope to further our partnership with our commitment to manufacture the JCM in Huntsville."

Should Raytheon win, JCM could add approximately 200 new jobs to the Raytheon payroll in Alabama and will provide 15 to 20 years of JCM missile production work in Huntsville. The missile initially will be developed and tested at Raytheon's Missile Systems business in Tucson, and production would be transitioned to Huntsville for assembly of the JCM seeker and final missile assembly and check out.

Currently, four of Raytheon Company's defense businesses employ about 530 people in Huntsville, home of the U.S. Army's Redstone Arsenal and the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command. Raytheon's Army Airborne Command and Control System (A2C2S) program office is located in Huntsville, as is the company's Extended Air Test Bed and support services for a number of programs, including Patriot, THAAD, Joint Land-Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System (JLENS), and NASA programs at the Marshall Space Flight Center.

"Raytheon and its JCM teammates Alliant Tech Systems, BAE Systems, EDO, General Dynamics-OTS, Honeywell, L-3 Communications, M/A-COM, Marvin Engineering and MOOG offer a proven low-risk, cost-effective, robust solution with increased lethality, survivability and operational flexibility for Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and allied aviation systems," said Paul Walker, Raytheon Missile Systems Land Combat vice president.

"Raytheon's work on JCM will bring a joint missile program to the Huntsville area, increasing the importance of Huntsville to the Department of Defense."

During JCM development, there will be additional opportunities for missile and electronic components. JCM development includes updated helicopter launchers and test equipment for the US Marine Corps and a launcher for the Navy F/A 18 E/F fighter/attack aircraft. Huntsville will become the Raytheon center for development and production of joint systems for the U.S. Army as well as the Navy and the Marines.

Raytheon's JCM maximizes the strengths of its broad missile technology and skills at weapons integration on aircraft throughout the world. Experience from Javelin, TOW, NLOS-LS (formerly NetFires), AIM-9X air-to-air missile, JSOW, Paveway, Maverick, AMRAAM, HARM anti-radar missile and other combat- proven systems to ensure low risk, rapid integration of proven technologies. JCM is a modular missile that will allow common components to be used across services and nations.

Using common components will reduce cost, save time and resources normally spent to develop and produce different warheads, propulsion systems and sensors for each application.

Raytheon's JCM initially will be deployed on rotary and fixed-wing platforms and, based on the company's anti- tank experience, has growth potential for Future Combat Systems ground platforms.

JCM will replace the Army's aging inventory of Hellfire missiles. "Threat integrated air defenses dictate that more range than the existing Hellfire is needed to give the warfighter the flexibility to stand off and the freedom to maneuver," Walker said.

"And although the Maverick remains a very capable missile, the JCM brings a two-fold increase in kills per sortie as well as leading-edge autonomous target recognition, acquisition, track and precision lethality with minimal collateral damage. To meet these requirements, Raytheon is building an evolutionary Joint Common Missile, with revolutionary capabilities, in Huntsville. Raytheon works well with the community and the Arsenal," he said.

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