Tucson:
Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems will highlight its weapons for the F-35 stealth fighter jet and tout its missile-defense systems for Europe next week at the 52nd Paris Air Show.
Raytheon, a top supplier of missiles to the U.S. and its allies, is a regular exhibitor at numerous military trade shows as well as broader aerospace events that include defense, like the biannual Paris show.
“For our executives and business-development teams, it’s a uniquely efficient way to meet our customers and suppliers,” Raytheon Missile Systems spokesman John Patterson said.
Raytheon will focus on the star of the defense side of the Paris show, the F-35 Lightning II, during a press briefing on “air dominance” on Monday, the first day of the weeklong show. It will mark the first time the F-35 Lightning II will fly at the show.
Though France isn’t among the allied nations buying the F-35, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway and Turkey are partnering on production and expected to order the fifth-generation fighter.
Belgium and Finland are evaluating the F-35, according to maker Lockheed Martin, and Germany reportedly has asked for more information on the new fighter.
Raytheon — Southern Arizona’s largest private employer with about 10,000 local workers — will be touting the weapons it is readying for the F-35, including the Joint Standoff Weapon glide bomb, the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, Paveway bomb-guidance kits and the Small Diameter Bomb II (SDBII) — an all-weather glide bomb with multiple seeker modes.
On Monday, Raytheon plans to announce the recent completion of high-speed wind tunnel testing of a scale model of an F-35 with SDBIIs in its internal bays, which moves the weapon closer to operational testing and on track for F-35 deployment in 2022…
