The Army gave Raytheon Co. [RTN] a $144 million contract change to provide engineering services for the Patriot Air and Missile Defense program.

This award represents the third of four annual options to the base contract awarded in fiscal year 2004.

Patriot engineering services are an international cooperative effort in which foreign partners fund and benefit from systems improvements. International partners include Germany, The Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Japan, Israel, Kuwait, Taiwan, Greece, and Spain.

The Patriot is a theater air and missile defense system and the only U.S.-deployed, land-based, short-to-medium range ballistic missile defense capability, according to Raytheon.