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TEWKSBURY, Mass., Aug. 31, 2004. Raytheon Company's Complementary Low Altitude Weapon System (CLAWS) successfully completed its first guided flight test with a metal-on-metal direct hit of the target drone at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. All mission objectives were achieved with the launcher in full tactical configuration and with U.S. Marines operating the equipment.
"Completion of this first flight test moves CLAWS one step closer to providing Marines the expanded air defense protection that's critical to their expeditionary warfare operation," said Tad Dickinson, CLAWS program manager at Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS). "As a mission systems integrator, we've leveraged our experience and investment from the Ground Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile program to provide the Marines an affordable, highly capable and low-risk CLAWS program."
This is the first in a series of three flight tests -- each one providing incremental validation of all the CLAWS family of systems components, which include the Raytheon IDS CLAWS launcher, the Thales-Raytheon Systems Sentinel radar, the Raytheon Solipsys Multi-Source Correlator Tracker and Tactical Display Framework, and the Raytheon Missile Systems AIM-120 AMRAAM. These components form a highly capable one-company force, as evidenced in this first flight test.
CLAWS is an all-weather, highly mobile, high firepower air defense system for the Marine expeditionary forces. The system uses the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle as its platform and the AIM-120 AMRAAM as its interceptor. This program is part of IDS' Integrated Air Defense Systems product line and will be the first block fielded as the Marine variant to the Army/Marine Ground Launched AMRAAM common launcher program.
Based in Tewksbury, Mass., Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in mission systems integration. With a strong international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. armed forces and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Integrated Defense Systems provides integrated solutions for the air, surface and subsurface battlespace.
For more information, see www.raytheon.com.
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