TEWKSBURY, Mass., Nov. 17, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) President Dan Smith announced today that the IDS business achieved a CMMI® Level 4 maturity rating resulting from an independent appraisal conducted on its Systems, Software and Hardware Engineering organizations. This evaluation validates IDS process maturity as well as disciplined sustained application.

Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), the CMMI Product Team, consisting of representatives from industry, defense, and the Software Engineering Institute, has established a model to measure business process maturity levels. Known as Capability Maturity Model Integration, or CMMI (SM), the model provides DoD with a way to assess risks and determine the level of process maturity that a company has achieved. It helps DoD predict performance, and CMMI maturity level ratings are often a prerequisite or discriminator for companies bidding on defense contracts.

"Achieving CMMI Level 4 is extremely important to us," Smith said. "It validates for us and for our customers that Raytheon IDS has statistical process controls in place to ensure performance and Mission Assurance. This is particularly important in this period of high growth for our business to fulfill our customer's expectation for Mission Assurance.

"At Raytheon, Mission Assurance means 'no doubt' that our systems and products will perform as designed for our warfighters and our other customers," he said. "They deserve nothing less. This means we deliver on our commitment."

"Achieving Level 4 is an important milestone for validating our processes and systems for more than 6,000 engineers in our distributed operations model," said Mark Russell, vice president for IDS Engineering. "No matter where you are located or on what project you work, we all use the same process, reducing variability and ensuring the same high quality from project to project."

Russell explained that an independent team of appraisers, led by Ralph Williams, president of Cooliemon, Inc., a Florida-based independent expert on business improvement, spent four weeks at Raytheon IDS reviewing approximately 7,000 documents and interviewing 160 engineers, project and program managers before granting the Level 4 rating.

"What makes this appraisal significant is its range and scope," said Robert Smith, IDS engineering director for Strategic Development, Raytheon Six Sigma and Processes. "Others in the industry choose to pursue CMMI ratings for a particular facility, sector or project -- piecemeal. We've chosen to pursue a Level 4 rating for our entire business. Because all of our functional areas are integrated and mutually supporting, we think this broader approach makes better sense and provides the best value to our customers."

Based in Tewksbury, Mass., IDS is Raytheon's leader in Joint Battlespace Integration. With a strong international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. armed forces and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, IDS 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.

Note: Capability Maturity Model, CMM and CMMI are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by Carnegie Mellon University. CMM Integration is a service mark of Carnegie Mellon University.

  Contact:
   Guy Shields
   978.858.5246

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

CONTACT: Guy Shields of Raytheon Company, +1-978-858-5246

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