Raytheon lands $5 billion Army contract for Coyote missile system, its largest deal of the year
Story Highlights
- Raytheon wins $5.039 billion U.S. Army contract for Coyote Missile System
- Coyote system can intercept drones and perform various combat missions
- Contract is Raytheon’s largest of five billion-dollar deals this year
Multibillion-dollar deals have already been stacking up this year for RTX Corp.’s Tucson-based Raytheon missile making operation, but its latest contract award sets a new high-water mark in 2025.
Raytheon has won a contract worth more than $5.039 billion from the U.S. Army for work on the Coyote Missile System, part of an unmanned anti-drone aerial program that the defense contractor has been building and developing for several years.
Under the deal, Raytheon will produce mobile Coyote missile launchers, kinetic and nonkinetic missile interceptors and Ku-band radio frequency system radars, according to an announcement on Monday from the U.S. military. The spending and specific work locations will be determined according to future work orders, with the work under the contract expected to be completed by Sept. 28, 2033, the announcement said.
The contract was awarded after one bid was received following an online solicitation for bids, the announcement said.
Coyote is a tube-fired unmanned aerial system, part of a line called launched effects, that can be fired from air, ground or sea. It already has been used in combat situations as a way to intercept drones — and the Coyote drones can be deployed in swarms.
Raytheon system can be used for electronic warfare
Raytheon also described the system as adaptable for interchangeable payloads for uses beyond striking hostile drones and other targets. Those include electronic warfare and surveillance. It has the ability to collect imagery for enhanced targeting and damage assessment with lower risk to manned aircraft, the contractor said.
Raytheon has been testing the system, including firing a variant from a helicopter for the first time earlier this year.
This latest contract announcement headlines a particularly busy September in which Raytheon’s Tucson operation compiled a slew of deals and solidified its partnership with an Italian manufacturer. It’s also the largest of what now amounts to five contracts worth $1 billion or more this year. Before this one, the largest was a $3.5 billion award from the U.S. Air Force at the start of August.
Raytheon is one of the largest defense contractors in Arizona, landing 192 Department of Defense awards in fiscal year 2024, according to Phoenix Business Journal research. It is also the money leader in Arizona’s rapidly expanding defense industry.