RTX's Raytheon and Diehl Defence sign MOU on Stinger missile co-production

US marines firing a Stinger missile. (US Marine Corps/Sergeant Dominic Romero)

Raytheon, an RTX business, and Diehl Defence announced in a joint press release on 19 August that they had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the co-production of elements of the Stinger missile in Europe. A Raytheon spokesperson told Janes on 21 August that the agreement had been signed on a recent date before the announcement.

Under the agreement, Diehl will relaunch Stinger production as part of its overall growth strategy. The Raytheon spokesperson said Diehl would produce subcomponents similar to those produced by its predecessor companies from 1992 to 2002, with potential production sites being evaluated by Diehl as part of this strategy. She added, “Raytheon, as the prime contractor, will oversee all major subcomponent manufacture to include Diehl and final assembly and test with other partners to be named in the future. Capacity planning for this effort is in the early stages with a target to support a minimum of doubling the overall Stinger capacity in the next five years. Diehl will be delivering key subcomponents for the Stinger missile to Raytheon, who will oversee other key subcomponent manufacturing and final missile assembly, testing, and sale. Specific countries are not being disclosed at this time, as contracting is still under way.”

Raytheon and Diehl said the MOU would support increased global capacity, with Tom Laliberty, Raytheon's president of land and air defence systems, speaking of “historically high demand for Stinger”. The companies said Diehl was assessing various options for increasing production capacity at existing and other locations.