The Missile Defense Agency awarded Raytheon 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, Ariz., and Huntsville, Ala., through September 2016.