Poland's Armaments Inspectorate announced that it has concluded the technical dialogue for its medium-range missile defense system, "WISLA." As a result, Raytheon - offering Patriot - is invited to take part in the formal procurement process. The EUROSAM consortium (Thales and MBDA- France) offering SAMP/T is the other contender.
The two–stage technical dialogue was part of the analytical and conceptual phase of the WISLA program. It established detailed tactical and technical requirements for the new medium-range air and missile defense system. The final solutions were required to (1) be operational, (2) be deployed by NATO countries and (3) ensure significant involvement of Polish industry in manufacturing, servicing and continued modernization of the system.
"We are very pleased to be selected as a final contender for Poland's WISLA program," said Dan Crowley, President, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "We are moving ahead to provide Poland with the most advanced air and missile defense system in use today by 12 countries around the world and look forward to partnering with Polish industry to build the next generation Patriot system."
Patriot is continually modernized to meet evolving threats in order to deliver state of the art capability with each new fielding and upgrade. Today, Patriot is the only combat-proven air and missile defense system, protecting the U.S. and allied forces around the world. Its global community, including five NATO nations and future Patriot partners, offers Poland benefits through system enhancement, training, maintenance, testing, logistics and shared costs. Raytheon will partner with Poland on the future technology development roadmap of Patriot and has identified many co-development opportunities for Polish industry to participate spanning integration, command and control, radar enhancements and missile technologies.
About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2013 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 92 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as cyber security and a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass.
Source: http://www.raytheon.com