Army awards Raytheon $196M contract for Coyote interceptors

The Army awarded a $196.7 million contract to Raytheon last week for the company's Coyote interceptors, according to a Sept. 26 Pentagon notice.

Fiscal year 2024 aircraft procurement dollars were obligated at the time of the award, and the contract has a completion date of Sept. 30, 2027, according to DOD.

The contract announcement comes as the Army continues to emphasize the need to quickly procure unmanned systems and counter-drone technologies at a rapid pace in response to world events in places such as Ukraine and Gaza.

The service issued a sole-source notice last December, stating that it intended to award a contract for the Coyote counter UAS system to support a production requirement starting in FY-25. And in February, Army Under Secretary Gabe Camarillo warned that a yearlong continuing resolution would have impacted the service’s ability to purchase 225 Coyote systems in FY-24. Congress ultimately passed an FY-24 defense spending bill in late March, averting the scenario.

Bill Darne, the director for cUAS and short-range ground-based air defense for Raytheon Land & Air Defense Systems, said in a Sept. 27 statement to Inside Defense that the company continues to see “growing demand for our Raytheon Coyote family of effectors, which offer a low-cost and highly effective solution for defeating unmanned aircraft systems.”

“Coyote can defeat multiple targets, singles and swarms, demonstrating reduced engagement timelines to defeat various threats,” he said.

An Army spokesman did not have any additional information about the contract as of Monday afternoon.