McKINNEY, Texas, July 5, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company's Space and Airborne Systems (SAS) and Boeing finalized a $60.8 million contract for continued participation on the P-8A MMA (Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft) industry team.

Under the systems development and demonstration (SDD) contract, Raytheon will provide two upgraded APS-137D(V)5 maritime surveillance radars. The company will also contribute to related software design and provide radar simulation for design labs and program reviews.

The P-8A MMA program celebrated its first year anniversary last month. "From the beginning, the entire industry and U.S. Navy team has built an outstanding spirit of understanding and cooperation," said Capt. Joe Rixey, Naval Air Systems Command P-8A MMA Integrated Product Team Lead.

Prior to its formally negotiated contract, Raytheon worked with the Boeing-led P-8A MMA industry team under a letter contract. "Raytheon and Boeing wanted to provide the best value for the best price," noted Mack Moorman, Raytheon's P-8A MMA program manager. "And I am convinced we've done that."

The upgraded APS-137 maritime surveillance radar will provide the P-8A MMA customer with reliable, accurate open water and littoral, all-weather surveillance capability for a variety of mission applications, including anti- submarine and anti-surface warfare maritime patrol as well as netted intelligence and reconnaissance surveillance operations. The multi-resolution radar capabilities include long-range surface search and target tracking, periscope detection in high sea states, ship imaging and classification using ISAR (Inverse Synthetic Aperture Radar), and SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) for overland surveillance, ground mapping, and targeting.

Specific upgrades to the APS-137 for P-8A MMA include: reduced weight, improved MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures), color weather display, joint technical architecture compliance for seamless net centric operation as part of the Boeing aircraft backbone, and full integration with the Boeing mission system.

To date, SDD for the U.S. Navy's next generation multi-mission aircraft remains on budget and on schedule. The next milestone will be a preliminary design review scheduled for September, 2005.

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems is the leading provider of sensor systems giving war fighters the most accurate and timely information available for the network-centric battlefield.

With 2004 revenues of $4.0 billion and 13,000 employees, SAS is headquartered in El Segundo, Calif., with additional facilities in Goleta, Calif.; Forest, Miss.; Dallas, McKinney and Plano, Texas; and several international locations.

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
   Dave Desilets
   972-952-2239 office
   David_C_Desilets@raytheon.com

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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