Thomas Kennedy, chairman and CEO of Raytheon (NYSE: RTN), has said he expects the company to gain a controlling share of a potential $8 billion market for surface-to-surface missiles over a decade, Defense News reported Tuesday.
Kennedy said Thursday at the company™s earnings call that the proposed Naval Strike Missile is ready to transition to the production phase and he thinks potential orders for the weapon system could reach thousands.
œThis system is not going to go through a 10-year development cycle; it already exists and it™s ready to enter production almost immediately upon award of the contract, added Kennedy, a 2018 Wash100 recipient.
Raytheon partnered with Kongsberg last year to offer the Naval Strike Missile to the U.S. Navy in a bid to address the service™s requirement for over-the-horizon missile technology in support of littoral combat ships and frigates.
The partnership™s Naval Strike Missile is equipped with target identification tools and designed to travel at a range of at least 100 nautical miles.
The Navy expects to complete the missile competition by summer of 2018, the report added.
