Raytheon's recently acquired Texas Instruments (TI) defence division is to join forces with the group's existing Electronic Systems unit to work on the latest phase of a US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) effort to cut the cost of producing missiles.
TI and Raytheon had completed the earlier concept-definition and risk-reduction phases independently, but their efforts have been combined for the demonstration phase following Raytheon's $3 billion acquisition of TI, which won US Government approval in July.
The two divisions will now join to provide 60% of the funding for the $100 million implementation and demonstration phase of DARPA's Affordable Multi-Missile Manufacturing (AM3) programme, which aims to reduce the cost of ongoing missile-production projects by 25%, while reducing the development and production costs for new missiles by at least 50%. Halving development cycle-time is another programme goal.
The AM3 project is focused on seekers and guidance-and-control units, which account for more than 60% of missile unit costs.
Source: Flight International