Opportunities on the horizon
Perhaps the most interesting bit of defense contracting news we saw this past week, though, was Raytheon's announcement on Wednesday that its new MK-60 Patrol Coastal Griffin Missile System has moved one step closer to deployment.
The missile, a variant of Raytheon's popular air-to-surface AGM-176 Griffin model, is designed to be fired ship-to-ship as a means of defending small warships from even smaller fast-attack boats. Initial plans call for the MK-60 version of the Griffin to be installed aboard U.S. Navy Cyclone-class Coastal Patrol boats deployed to the Persian Gulf, and to America's growing fleet of Littoral Combat Ships as well.
Thereafter, though, the missile's small size (about half the size of a Hellfire) and improved range (compared to traditional shipboard chain-guns) could make it ideal for arming the small international navies of U.S. allies -- many of which boast "flagships" not much larger than America's smallish LCS vessels. Don't look now, but Raytheon may have just created a new export market for itself.
Defense News Roundup: F-35 Sales Begin to Ramp, and Raytheon Has a New Missile - Fool.com
Perhaps the most interesting bit of defense contracting news we saw this past week, though, was Raytheon's announcement on Wednesday that its new MK-60 Patrol Coastal Griffin Missile System has moved one step closer to deployment.
The missile, a variant of Raytheon's popular air-to-surface AGM-176 Griffin model, is designed to be fired ship-to-ship as a means of defending small warships from even smaller fast-attack boats. Initial plans call for the MK-60 version of the Griffin to be installed aboard U.S. Navy Cyclone-class Coastal Patrol boats deployed to the Persian Gulf, and to America's growing fleet of Littoral Combat Ships as well.
Thereafter, though, the missile's small size (about half the size of a Hellfire) and improved range (compared to traditional shipboard chain-guns) could make it ideal for arming the small international navies of U.S. allies -- many of which boast "flagships" not much larger than America's smallish LCS vessels. Don't look now, but Raytheon may have just created a new export market for itself.
Defense News Roundup: F-35 Sales Begin to Ramp, and Raytheon Has a New Missile - Fool.com
