DALLAS, May 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Professional Services LLC, (RPS), a subsidiary of Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), and Petrofac Training Services announced a first-of-its-kind offering under their jointly owned Hi-Con Training program. The new Tropical Helicopter Underwater Escape Training (THUET) course is being launched at the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston, May 5-8, 2014.

Approved by OPITO, an accreditation body for the oil and gas industry, this new training for high-consequence oil and gas exploration scenarios will be offered at NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL), and has been accepted by Shell UA and other Gulf of Mexico operators to satisfy their warm-water HUET requirement. It has also been reviewed and endorsed by the P&T Wells organization.

"With Tropical HUET, the Hi-Con Training program becomes one of the first in North America to offer this important safety course," said Marc Pretorius, operations director at Petrofac Training Services Americas. "Tropical HUET represents our commitment to deliver the latest and most innovative training to a rapidly changing oil and gas industry."

The THUET course ensures workers traveling to and from offshore oil and gas installations and vessels by helicopter stay calm in an emergency. It also teaches delegates to escape a helicopter following an unexpected water landing by providing specific training in pre-flight and in-flight requirements.

"As part of our focus on service and excellence, Hi-Con Training is constantly reviewed, upgraded and expanded, ensuring it is current and of the highest quality," said Tracy Cox, director of performance consulting at Raytheon Professional Services. "The OPITO-approved Tropical HUET is a safety and survival game changer and an important initiative for oil and gas workers in the Gulf of Mexico."

Hi-Con Training's THUET course is taught by some of the industry's leading training professionals at the NBL at the Johnston Space Center in Houston. The 6.2 million gallon, 40-foot deep pool, once used exclusively to train astronauts, allows for an extremely realistic learning experience, and a Modular Egress Training Simulator allows participants to experience the feeling of escaping from a helicopter fully submerged in water.

The industry initiative to put additional focus on training led OPITO to update its THUET requirements, increasing the training from a four- to eight-hour course. Every four years, rig workers must recertify by completing an eight-hour repeat course.

To learn more about Hi-Con Training's award-winning learning solutions for high-consequence environments and to watch videos of training in action, visit www.hicontraining.com.

About Petrofac Training Services
Petrofac is a leading international service provider to the oil and gas production and processing industry, with a diverse customer portfolio including many of the world's leading integrated, independent and national oil and gas companies. Petrofac designs and builds oil and gas facilities; operates, maintains and manages facilities and trains personnel; enhances production; and, where it can leverage its service capability, develops and co-invests in upstream and infrastructure projects. With more than 18,000 employees, Petrofac operates out of seven strategically located operational centres, in Aberdeen, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Woking, Chennai, Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur and has a further 24 offices worldwide.

About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2013 sales of $24 billion and 63,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 92 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 cyber security and a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter @Raytheon.

SOURCE Raytheon Company