CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon BBN Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), has earned a National Training and Simulation Association (NTSA) 2010 award for its modeling and simulation support for U.S. Navy training.

The NTSA Team Award for Outstanding Achievement in Modeling and Simulation for Training recognizes Raytheon BBN's interdisciplinary leadership of the development and deployment of the VESSEL Damage Control Trainer and the development and release of the open-source Visual Tool for Authoring Learning (VITAL).

"This recognition from NTSA confirms what assessments have shown; VESSEL is not just engaging, but more important, it delivers very effective training of critical skills," said Bruce Roberts, co-principal investigator, VESSEL, Raytheon BBN Technologies.

The VESSEL Damage Control Trainer is an immersive, game-based training environment that teaches damage control skills, shipboard communication, and shipboard navigation to U.S. Navy recruits without the costs and risks associated with live training.

VITAL makes it easier for instructional system and game designers to collaborate on elements and logic while developing game-based trainers.

The award was presented at the annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference, the world's largest modeling and simulation conference.

The VESSEL team includes subcontractors to Raytheon BBN Technologies: Alion Science and Technology, Intelligent Decision Systems Inc., University of Central Florida, and IDEAS.

Raytheon Company, with 2010 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 89 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.

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SOURCE Raytheon Company