TEWKSBURY, Mass., March 31, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has been awarded a contract valued at more than $51.5 million to upgrade 163 Patriot PAC-2 missiles to the latest GEM+ configuration.

In the GEM+ contract award announced by the Department of Defense on March 8, 2005, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems will work with the Army to upgrade 90 PAC-2 missiles to the GEM-T configuration. Additionally, the award calls for the upgrade of an additional 73 PAC-2 GEM missiles to the GEM-C configuration.

These are the same missiles that successfully destroyed two target drones in a test conducted at White Sands Missile Range early last month. The GEM+ configuration is an affordable capability upgrade that allows the Army to leverage existing missiles into the Configuration 3 capability.

Raytheon is the Army's prime contractor and the system integrator for the Patriot system. As the system integrator, Raytheon ensures that all Patriot system components, including the PAC-3 missile, provide the warfighter a reliable and highly lethal capability to defeat the threats in current and future combat environments.

Based in Tewksbury, Mass., Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in mission systems integration. With a strong international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. armed forces and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Integrated Defense Systems provides integrated solutions for the air, surface and subsurface battlespace.

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.

  Contact:
   Guy Shields
   978.858.5246

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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