Raytheon has received a $1.5 billion contract from the Department of Defense for foreign military sales of the Patriot Defense System to Poland.

Work on the contract, announced Tuesday by the Pentagon, will be performed in Andover, Mass., White Sands Missile Range, N.M., and Merrimack, N.H., with an estimated completion date of December 2022.

Fiscal 2018 foreign military sales funds in the amount of $922.5 million were obligated at the time of the award.

The deal is part of an overall $4.75 billion missile defense deal between the United States and Poland signed in March.

"Poland joins the now-16-nation-strong group of countries which trust Patriot to defend their citizens, military and sovereignty," Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems, said of the deal in a statement last month.

"Poland's procurement of Patriot strengthens trans-Atlantic partnership and security, and creates jobs in the U.S. and Poland," Kremer said.

Under the agreement, the company will work with Polish defense companies to build the defense system. Polish law requires that a portion of the contract funds remain within the country in order to bolster Poland's domestic defense industry.

The Patriot is an advanced long range air defense missile system that is designed to destroy incoming enemy aircraft and missiles. It has been in use for decades, has seen combat use and has been upgraded many times.

Versions such as the Patriot Advanced Capability 3, manufactured by Lockheed Martin, have been developed specifically to intercept ballistic missiles as part of a wider network. The conventional Patriot and ballistic missile defense versions have been exported around the world.

The Polish system will incorporate the Lockheed-made PAC-3 and Northrop Grumman's Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System.

Deliveries of the systems are expected to start in 2022.

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The Pentagon, United States (AFP) Sept 26, 2018
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