The U.S. Army has awarded Raytheon Co. a more than $1.5 billion contract for production of Poland's Patriot™ Integrated Air and Missile Defense System including spare parts, support and training.

Announced by the Department of Defense on September 25, the contract calls for Raytheon to build and deliver four Patriot fire units for Poland.

"Patriot will enhance Polish, European and NATO security while creating jobs in Poland and the U.S.," said Tom Laliberty, vice president of Integrated Air and Missile Defense at Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business.

Patriot is the backbone of NATO and Europe's defense against ballistic and cruise missiles, advanced aircraft and drones.  Fifteen other nations depend on Patriot to protect their citizens and armed forces, including the U.S. and six other European nations: Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Spain, Romania and Sweden.

This contract is for Phase I of "WISLA," Poland's two-phase medium-range Integrated Air and Missile Defense procurement.  Under Phase II, Poland has the potential to acquire additional Patriot fire units and has expressed interest in GaN-based 360-degree active electronically scanning array radars, and SkyCeptor™, a low-cost interceptor missile.

Raytheon's Patriot is a missile defense system consisting of radars, command-and-control technology and multiple types of interceptors, all working together to detect, identify and defeat tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, advanced aircraft and other threats.