HARLOW, England, Dec. 10, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company's Paveway IV weapon system completed all evaluation activities, clearing it to enter service with the U.K.'s Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Harrier GR9 aircraft.

Following the demonstration of capability trials at the U.S. Navy's Air Warfare Center China Lake, Calif., the U.K. Ministry of Defence accepted the weapon system into operational service.

"This is a tremendous achievement and a testament to the team ethos and trust forged between all stakeholders," said John Michel, Raytheon Systems Limited acting director of Precision Systems. "Paveway IV provides the U.K. MoD with a world-class strike capability, advanced flexibility and significantly improved safety characteristics. Raytheon is proud to have delivered this system to the U.K. Armed Forces in support of current operational requirements."

U.K. MoD Freefall Integrated Project Team Leader Captain Howard Holdsworth, Royal Navy, said: "Paveway IV will provide those at the front line with a hugely flexible and very welcome capability. This is the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work on the part of the stakeholder community, both in the MoD and Industry. We can be justifiably proud of our achievements; Paveway IV is a very capable weapon system indeed."

Paveway IV is being integrated onto all U.K. fixed-wing strike platforms including the Tornado GR4, Eurofighter Typhoon and the Joint Combat Aircraft.

The Paveway IV weapon system provides a low-cost, day-or-night, all-weather, general purpose precision bombing capability. Compared with standard 500-pound class weapons, the enhanced capabilities of Paveway IV include: insensitive munition warhead with increased penetration; cockpit selectable terminal fuzing with air burst and post impact delay; highly reliable second environment sensing via unique arming maneuver; delayed arming to minimize collateral damage; and GPS anti-jam resistance via inertial-only guidance mode.

Raytheon Company, with 2007 sales of $21.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 86 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 72,000 people worldwide.

    Contacts:
    Robin Hughes
    Media Relations Manager
    +44 (0)7918 748482 mobile
    Robin.Hughes@raytheon.co.uk

    Mike Nachshen
    520.794.4088 - office
    520.269.5697 - mobile
    Michael_nachshen@raytheon.com

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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

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