CIWS Support Contract

Here’s an interesting contract related to the Phalanx CIWS.

“Raytheon Co., Tucson, Arizona, is being awarded a $159,958,743 firm-fixed-price contract for MK 15 Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) upgrades and conversions, system overhauls and associated hardware.  … This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $461,712,911.“

I’m surprised by this.  I had thought the CIWS was considered obsolete by the Navy, being superseded by the RAM/SeaRAM system.  The announcement did not specify how many systems were covered under this contract but it’s quite a bit of money, regardless, for a system that is being phased out.