Under the direct commercial sales contract, Raytheon will provide missile kits, parts and components, as well as technical support for missile production at MELCO in Japan.
Raytheon and MELCO have a longstanding partnership, over 50 years, on critical defense programs. This contract represents the latest chapter of their collaboration and enables Japan to enhance its domestic production and missile defense capabilities, while strengthening the wider US-Japan security partnership.
The ESSM Block 2 is a short-medium range, ship-launched, dual-mode guided missile, which offers greater maneuverability and improved performance compared to its predecessor Block 1.
ESSM is a surface-to-air missile, upgradable during launch with a data link that uses semi-active and active radar guidance in the final phase of engagement (Block II) to counter rapidly moving anti-ship missiles.
The RIM-162 ESSM II weighs about 230 kg of which 90 are represented by the warhead and has a range of about 50 km, with a launch speed greater than mach 4. Japan is a customer nation of the ESSM, managed by the NATO SEASPARROW consortium composed of 12 nations.
