TEWKSBURY, Mass., Aug. 15, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Air Force awarded Raytheon Solipsys a homeland defense contract valued at $6.7 million with options to support NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) and NORTHCOM (U.S. Northern Command). Its purpose is to enhance the United States' ability to monitor and track air traffic and other potential airborne threats operating within domestic airspace.

The Joint Based Expeditionary Connectivity Center (JBECC) is both a fixed and mobile system that uses the Raytheon Solipsys Multi-Source Correlator Tracker (MSCT) and Tactical Display Framework (TDF) to create and maintain an accurate, reliable single integrated air picture for homeland defense purposes. JBECC meets a critical need by providing rapidly deployable voice and data link capabilities that interface with the NORAD Contingency Suite (NCS) currently deployed across the country.

NCS provides real-time situational awareness for the commander of NORAD and his staff in the Combined Command Center and at numerous air defense sites. NCS was developed by Raytheon Solipsys working closely with the Air Force to provide a reliable domestic air surveillance solution. It was deployed immediately following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. NCS also provides the U.S. government and associated affiliates with real-time situational awareness to enable exchange and sharing of mission critical information necessary for immediate command decision making.

JBECC uses the same MSCT and TDF components as NCS and therefore reduces training and maintenance costs through common software and hardware. The system is also capable of extending the integrated air picture to a variety of sites to enhance crisis response capabilities in support of the homeland defense mission.

The 1st Air Force contract was competitively awarded via the GSA (General Services Administration) Schedule for a base year and up to four option years of support, maintenance and continued analysis of the JBECC system for multiple mobile and fixed sites.

Work on the contract will be performed by Raytheon Solipsys personnel on- site at customer locations and at Raytheon Solipsys' headquarters in Laurel, Md.

Raytheon Solipsys, a business unit of Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems, provides innovative and reliable contemporary command and control solutions for the joint warfighter. Distinguished by rapid innovation and an adaptive portfolio of information synthesis, distribution, and visualization products, Raytheon Solipsys supplies capability to the armed forces.

Based in Tewksbury, Mass., Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in joint battlespace integration. With a strong international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency and the U.S. armed forces, Integrated Defense Systems provides a wide spectrum of integrated air and missile defense and naval and maritime warfighting solutions.

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/