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Raytheon Co. in Portsmouth, RI received a $21.5 million letter contract to procure Mk 57 Mod 12/13 NATO Sea Sparrow Surface Missile System (NSSMS) ordnance alteration (ORDALT) kits, MK 73 solid state transmitter ORDALT kits, MK 29 guided missile launcher system Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile (ESSM) ORDALT kits, and related spares for Navy aircraft carrier and amphibious assault ship installations. Work will be performed in Portsmouth, RI (60%); Long Island, NY (20%); and Waterloo, Canada (20%), and is expected to be completed by June 2008. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured by the Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, DC issued the contract (N00024-06-C-5422).
The NSSMS consists of a Guided Missile Fire Control System (GMFCS) Mk 91 and a Guided Missile Launching System (GMLS) Mk 29. The GMFCS Mk 91 is a computer-operated fire control system that provides automatic acquisition and tracking of a designated target, generates launcher and missile orders, and in the automatic mode initiates the firing command when the target becomes engageable, with operator intervention and override at any time. The GMLS Mk 29 is a rapid-reaction, lightweight launching system that provides on-mount stowage and launch capability of up to eight missiles. On many ships, it still contains the old RIM-7 Sparrow series rather than the much newer RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow, a very different missile system that is much more capable of dealing with modern threats. These upgrades appear to improve capabilities on these ships, allowing Mk 57 NSSMS and ship self defense system Mk 2 to be fully integrated with ESSM and capable of mounting and launching the missiles.