Further Applications Include Tornado GR4, Typhoon Fighters

Raytheon's Paveway IV weapon system completed all evaluation activities, clearing it to enter service with the United Kingdom's Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Harrier GR9 aircraft.

Following the demonstration of capability trials at the US Navy's Air Warfare Center China Lake, CA the UK Ministry of Defence accepted the weapon system into operational service.

"This is a tremendous achievement and a testament to the team ethos and trust forged between all stakeholders," said John Michel, Raytheon Systems Limited acting director of Precision Systems. "Paveway IV provides the UK MoD with a world-class strike capability, advanced flexibility and significantly improved safety characteristics. Raytheon is proud to have delivered this system to the UK Armed Forces in support of current operational requirements."

UK MoD Freefall Integrated Project Team Leader Captain Howard Holdsworth, Royal Navy, said: "Paveway IV will provide those at the front line with a hugely flexible and very welcome capability. This is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work on the part of the stakeholder community, both in the MoD and Industry. We can be justifiably proud of our achievements; Paveway IV is a very capable weapon system indeed."

Paveway IV is being integrated onto all UK fixed-wing strike platforms including the Tornado GR4, Eurofighter Typhoon and the Joint Combat Aircraft.

The Paveway IV weapon system is designed to provide low-cost, day-or-night, all-weather, general purpose precision bombing capability. Compared with standard 500-pound class weapons, the enhanced capabilities of Paveway IV include: insensitive munition warhead with increased penetration; cockpit selectable terminal fuzing with air burst and post impact delay; highly reliable second environment sensing via unique arming maneuver; delayed arming to minimize collateral damage; and GPS anti-jam resistance via inertial-only guidance mode.

FMI: www.raytheon.com