The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon a $54 million contract for the procurement of the second lot of the Excalibur Ib artillery round.

The Excalibur Ib is a precision-guided artillery projectile based on Raytheon's combat-proven Excalibur Ia-1 and Ia-2, a 155mm precision-guided, extended-range projectile that uses GPS precision guidance to provide accurate, first round, fire-for-effect capability in any environment.

"No other artillery round comes close to doing what Excalibur does for the warfighter," said Kevin Matthies, Raytheon Missile Systems' Excalibur program director.

"The Excalibur Ib will not only provide industry-leading precision for the warfighter, it will also improve reliability and lower the unit cost."