TUCSON, Ariz., Oct. 26, 2004  /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company today
celebrated the achievement of delivering the 250,000th Paveway(TM) Laser
Guided Bomb (LGB) to the U.S. Navy, Air Force and international customers. The
event highlighted successful efforts to streamline the factory and increase
production five-fold due to increased demand following 9/11, with a total of
250,000 Paveway kits delivered since 1968.

    "Delivering the 250,000th Paveway is a huge accomplishment, but the
successful effort to ramp up production five-fold to support warfighter needs
after 9/11 is another reason to celebrate. This shows the value of Paveway to
the warfighter," said Maj. Jose Delarosa, Air Force Paveway II program manager
at Hill Air Force Base, Utah. "Laser guided bombs have been the 'weapon of
choice' in every conflict since Operation Desert Storm. Approximately 10,000
LGBs were used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, accounting for approximately half
of all the air launched precision guided munitions."

    "This success is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the
Paveway program workers and showcases the strong partnership between Raytheon
and our customers," said Ben Ford, director of the Paveway program at Raytheon
Missile Systems. "As a defense contractor, we build defense systems like
Paveway II that will be a deterrent. But when a need arises, we are proud to
provide this reliable and effective weapon system to the men and women of the
armed services. Raytheon's Paveway products continue a 35-year tradition as
being the only laser guided bomb family that is currently approved for
unrestricted operational use."

    The Paveway LGB system features an onboard guidance system, the computer
control group that detects and guides the unit to a target illuminated by an
external laser source. Since first developed in 1968, the Paveway series of
LGBs has revolutionized tactical air-to-ground warfare. The precision guided
bombs are used successfully against a wide array of targets including bunkers,
buildings, bridges, runways, aircraft shelters and missile launchers.

    The guided bomb kits transform "dumb" bombs into precision guided weapons,
increasing accuracy, reliability and cost effectiveness while drastically
reducing the number of weapons required to destroy a target.

    Since the initial production deliveries in 1968, Paveway has evolved to
keep pace with technology and the warfighters' need for improved capability.
The latest combat-proven Paveway is called the Enhanced Paveway which combines
Global Positioning System (GPS) with the original laser guidance. Enhanced
Paveway(TM) was the U.K. Royal Air Force's weapon of choice during Operation
Enduring Freedom with more than 500 Enhanced Paveways dropped in combat.
Continuing the evolution cycle, an even newer version is being developed for
the U.K.'s Royal Air Force - Paveway(TM) IV - featuring a new warhead and
additional features to enhance warfighting capabilities is now on the drawing
board.

    "Following combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, our warfighters need
the operational flexibility of a single weapon that combines the best of both
worlds," said Raytheon's Ford. "They want a dual-mode weapon that does the job
of both LGB and GPS weapons. Not only will our Enhanced Paveway II do just
that, but it will save the services money since the U.K. has already developed
and fielded Enhanced Paveway II, and there will be significant operational
cost savings since our Dual Mode Enhanced Paveway II provides a 30 to 40
percent reduction in the number of sorties required as compared to the number
of sorties flown using dedicated LGB and GPS weapons," Ford said.

    Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2003 sales of $18.1 billion, is an
industry leader in defense and government electronics, space, information
technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft.
With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 78,000 people worldwide.


   Contact:
   Alan D. Fischer
   520.794.1211


SOURCE: Raytheon Company

Web site:  http://www.raytheon.com/