TEWKSBURY, Mass., Feb. 16, 2006 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Raytheon Company's Surface Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (SLAMRAAM) program received the go-ahead to proceed with manufacturing, assembly and test of the Integrated Fire Control Station (IFCS) after conducting a successful product baseline design review (PBDR) and a successful IFCS critical design review.

Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems' (IDS) SLAMRAAM system of systems provides the warfighter a tailorable, state of the art air defense system that can defeat current and emerging cruise missile threats as well as a wide range of air breathing threats.

"This system provides an affordable, critical capability to our joint warfighter against the current and evolving low-altitude cruise missile threats, improves system survivability and provides growth capabilities through an open architecture-based integrated fire control network," said James Wells, Raytheon IDS SLAMRAAM program manager. "These reviews were the result of close collaboration with our government partners and our industry partners, Boeing and Kongsberg Aerospace Defence, to provide an effective and fully-integrated mobile air defense solution to the warfighter."

Members from the U.S. Army, Marine Corps and Raytheon Joint Product team conducted the reviews. The PBDR was a high level review of the technical baseline of the SLAMRAAM system and prime item elements. It represents the culminating point for completion of the requirements and design phase of the program.

"We have built the body of evidence to demonstrate a solid baseline design," said U.S. Army SLAMRAAM Product Manager Lt. Col. Walt Jones. "This is all about the warfighter, and our program is providing the baseline for the first realization of capability to link any sensor to any shooter on the battlefield."

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 2005 sales of $21.9 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.

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  Guy Shields
  978.858.5246

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SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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

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