MCKINNEY, Texas, March 23, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- A satellite communication (SATCOM) system developed by Raytheon Company has successfully acquired an extended data rate (XDR) downlink from the U.S. government's "gold standard" satellite simulator.

XDR will transmit more data, deliver it faster and still reduce the enemy's ability to intercept or jam the transmission. The company's Secure Mobile Anti-jam Reliable Terminal -- Tactical (SMART-T), an advanced extremely high frequency (AEHF) satellite ground station, is the world's first contractor-developed system to acquire the XDR downlink.

The technological breakthrough occurred during recent simulation conducted at Raytheon's SATCOM Integration and Test facility in Marlborough, Mass. It is an important step in putting the full power of AEHF communication capability in the hands of warfighters.

XDR is a new, high speed, technologically sophisticated waveform that is a subset of AEHF. It boosts data throughput by a factor of four and simultaneously offers better data protection. As one example, XDR will allow sailors to conduct targeting missions, such as a Tomahawk missile launch, using improved graphical target data and more precise intelligence data.

The XDR breakthrough follows the successful preliminary design review of Raytheon's Navy Multi-band Terminal (NMT), during which the company demonstrated the maturity of its design and the benefits that this mission system solution will bring to warfighters. Raytheon's NMT solution leverages current AEHF SMART-T and other technology developed for the Army and Navy to avoid significant development costs to the Department of Defense.

NMT is a three-year, $87 million contract to design and develop prototype submarine and shipboard terminals for the transformational SATCOM component of the U.S. Navy's FORCEnet concept. NMT provides the bandwidth efficiency that allows naval information networks to extend seamlessly from individual ships and submarines to other networks around the globe.

"Naval mission success will increasingly depend on network-centric operations," said Fred Darlington, director of Raytheon's SATCOM business. "XDR gives warfighters the data rates and data protection that keep the networks on the air and in communication."

Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2004 sales of $20.2 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 80,000 people worldwide.

Note to editors:

AEHF SMART-T is in its integration and test phase; completion is expected in mid 2006.

The "gold standard" satellite is designed and built by Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the U.S. government's Lincoln Laboratories

Designs for NMT systems, hardware, software, logistics and life cycle cost were thoroughly reviewed over a five-day period. NMT replaces three separate systems currently deployed in the U.S. Navy, extending the submarine and

shipboard capability from Extremely High Frequency (EHF) waveforms to Advanced EHF (AEHF) and providing Global Broadcast System, X-band and Ka-band services.

Raytheon's AEHF SMART-T and NMT teams comprise some of the most experienced military SATCOM providers in the world. They include: Rockwell Collins, Inc.; Millitech, Inc.; Radant Technologies, Inc.; VT Miltope Corporation and Cisco Systems, Inc. Raytheon serves as the teams' systems integrator.

  Contact:
   Patricia Perlini
   972.952.4033

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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