..:: India Strategic ::. Security: Raytheon sees Kandhahar tested

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Editorial

Raytheon sees Kandhahar tested Excalibur an opportunity for India

Published : April 2014

Partnership, performance and presence drive Raytheon's customer focus and mature, battle-proven and continuous technology upgrades make not only HAWK XXI and National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile system NASAMS the right solution set for any Army but also Excalibur an asset which will make the artillery inventory neighbour’s envy and owners pride. And Raytheon feels India is its most lucrative market.

“By using Excalibur's level of precision, there is a major reduction in the time, cost and logistical burden associated with using other artillery munitions. With nearly 700 projectiles fired in theatre to date, Excalibur is the revolutionary precision projectile for the US Army and Marines. Analyses have shown it can take 10 to 50 conventional munitions to accomplish what one Excalibur can. Excalibur rounds are compatible with a number of 155mm guns. However it will require some compatibility tests for safety. US forces in Afghanistan have fired 700 rounds. So it’s proven Kandahar effective,” explained Steve Schultz Business Development Executive Land Warfare Systems Raytheon Missile Systems.

Excalibur which is a cooperative programme between Raytheon and BAE Systems Bofors AB is a 155mm precision-guided, extended-range projectile that uses GPS guidance to provide accurate, first-round effects capability in any environment.

He added that having a Precision Guided Missile in the long term is more cost effective as it promises first time precision strike without the need for close air support and will be just right for a price sensitive market like India.

“The US Navy and several foreign ones have asked us to come out to develop a shipboard compatible version of Excalibur. Excalibur is a co-development programme with Sweden. At the moment we have no customers in Asia. Excalibur is an extremely effective weapon in mountainous terrain as it has a top-down trajectory. We are here with our expertise developing a relationship in the market. We are continuously evolving the Excalibur capability and we have a large international market,” said Steve.

Raytheon has successfully executed offsets and transfer of technology (ToT) requirements under the FMS route and/or the DCS route around the world with various countries and companies. And it looks forward to working with India similarly. Different elements of the system can be co-produced or co-developed in India, said Schultz.