You won't be able to miss Alabama's contribution to the Paris Air Show.
Two 20-foot tall full-scale models of the Standard Missile-3 and Standard Missile-6, made at Raytheon's Huntsville production facility on Redstone Arsenal, will be on display in Paris as the role of missile defense takes center stage.
"There's a bigger mission focus on missile defense based on what's happening in the world and the security threats we're seeing" said Dr. Taylor Lawrence, an Alabama native and president of Raytheon's Missile Systems business.
Paris, he added, "is a key opportunity to talk about how the SM-3 and SM-6 play a role in missile defense."
Dr. Taylor Lawrence
The 52nd Paris Air Show kicked off today. The event brings hundreds of thousands of people to Paris-Le Bourget Airport, with representatives from all around the world and exhibits from more than 2,300 aerospace and defense vendors.
The presence of heads of state, defense officials and military representatives makes it a natural place to show off the capabilities of the Huntsville-made missiles, Lawrence said.
"The show gives us a chance to meet with people from all over the world in a short period of time," Lawrence said. "It's an opportunity to get together with international and domestic customers, meet with congressional and defense department leaders," who come to show.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey is leading a delegation from the state Department of Commerce to the show. Lawrence said he will meet with the Alabama representatives during the trade show.
Increasing global insecurity
This year's show comes at a time of increasing global unrest and heightened awareness of the role of missile defense. It also comes just after the successful test of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense System that shot down an intercontinental ballistic missile target during first-of-its-kind testing over the Pacific last month. The system uses an Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle, or EKV, produced by Raytheon.
When combined with the SM-3, the EKV has a combined record of 40 successful intercepts ins space.
Like the GMD, the SM-3 and SM-6 are part of a layered defense system.
"The theme of missile defense is having capabilities that are agile and deployable," Lawrence said. "For example, the SM-3 can be on ships or land-based AEGIS defense sites. We're very excited about those capabilities."
The Huntsville facility will play a key role in the development as the interest from international customers grows, Lawrence added.
"There is a lot of hardware going through there and there's a focus on qualify and mission assurance and delivery. There's a great potential for growth there."
Raytheon opened the $75 million, 70,000-square foot production facility at Redstone in 2012. The plant has been expanded since that time as demand for the SM-3- and SM-6 have grown. The SM-6 is an extended range anti-air warfare missile that provides over-the-horizon capabilities against fixed and rotary-wing aircraft, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles. The SM-3 is part of the Missile Defense Agency's sea-based Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system and is used by the U.S. and Japanese navies to defend against short- to intermediate-range ballistic missiles.
The SM-3 Block IIA interceptor, the missile's latest variant, is on track for employment at sea and on land in Poland in 2018, serving as the centerpiece for the European missile defense system.