MCKINNEY, Texas, June 14  /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has
launched its new MicroLight (TM) pocket-sized military radio.

    The MicroLight is the smallest, lightest, most power efficient software
defined radio on the market today.  Capable of simultaneously supporting
voice, data, and Blue Force tracking, the MicroLight offers the infantry a
single radio solution.

    MicroLight is a high-speed digital system that sends and receives secure
data and voice messages over wireless networks.

    The radio is based on leap-ahead technology and offers high bandwidth in
an ultra-modern package the size of a personal digital assistant.  Because the
MicroLight is software-defined, it can be reprogrammed to perform additional
functions, incorporate emerging technology and add new waveforms.  When
running the Enhanced Position Location Reporting System (EPLRS) waveform,
MicroLight will allow Land Warrior troops to communicate among themselves and
with other members of the Army's Tactical Internet.

    "It's a small but powerful network radio that cuts several pounds from a
soldier's equipment load," said Jerry Powlen, vice president of Raytheon
Integrated Communication Systems.  "With MicroLight, soldiers carry one radio,
one set of batteries, and one antenna. No other radio offers so much
capability in such a small a package."

    Erich Goetting, vice president of Advanced Products at Xilinx, said, "The
MicroLight's design is a true 'system on a chip' that includes embedded
processors running a real-time operating system, networking software, signal
processing and more. Raytheon is the first to develop a software defined radio
utilizing the Xilinx Virtex II Pro PowerPC and MicroBlaze soft processor core,
on a single field-programmable gate array."

    Designed as a software programmable radio, MicroLight brings Voice over
Internet Protocol, collaborative planning and the ability to network
commercial host applications to the battlefield. Initially, the radio will be
configured to run the EPLRS waveform, a core Joint Tactical Radio System
(JTRS) waveform that will provide a path toward JTRS Cluster 5. The next step
in MicroLight's development is compliance with the Software Communications
Architecture so that the radio can support other essential communication
waveforms.

    Raytheon Company, 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.

    Note to editors:

    Headquartered in Fullerton, Calif., Raytheon's Networked Communications
Systems is a leading supplier of data communications products to the U.S.
military.  The business unit has sold more than 10,000 EPLRS data radios,
equipped F-16 fighter aircraft with Situation Awareness Data Links, and
provided the network for Blue Force tracking and Future Combat Systems.


  Contact:
   Patricia Perlini
   972.952.4033
   260.418.4070 (cell)


SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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