The Missile Defense Agency awarded Raytheon Company an undefinitized contract action (UCA) valued at $156 million for the procurement of Standard Missile-3 Block IB guided missiles.

The SM-3 missile is designed to destroy incoming short-, medium-, and intermediate-range ballistic missile threats by colliding with them in space, a concept sometimes described as “hitting a bullet with a bullet.” More than 155 SM-3s have been delivered to the U.S. and Japan. The SM-3 Block IB will be deployed at sea and on land.

Fiscal year 2014 Defense wide procurement funds will be used to fund this effort.

The work will be performed in Tucson, Arizona, and Huntsville, Alabama, through September 2016.