TEWKSBURY, Mass., Feb. 21, 2006 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has been awarded a follow-on Missile Defense Agency contract valued at $49 million over the five-year period of performance for Project Hercules.

"This award acknowledges Raytheon's capability as a systems integrator for advanced technologies and underscores our leadership in developing groundbreaking technologies to support the missile defense mission," said Pete Franklin, vice president of Raytheon IDS Missile Defense.

Under the contract, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) will develop advanced technologies and system-wide architectures to improve the capabilities of the Ballistic Missile Defense System and will prototype these technologies in fielded systems.

Raytheon IDS has been one of the prime contractors for Project Hercules since 2003. The program is a national effort to develop advanced algorithms, or complex mathematical instructions, to improve the performance of ballistic missile defense systems and to address increasingly sophisticated missile threats. IDS provides algorithm development and engineering expertise in threat discrimination and tracking, as well as the architectures to fuse infrared, radar and electro-optical sensor data for robust threat discrimination.

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 integrated air and missile defense and naval and maritime warfighting solutions.

Raytheon Company, 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.

Note to Editors: This contract award was originally announced by the Department of Defense on Feb. 13, 2006

  Contact:
  Joyce Melikian
  339.645.6967

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SOURCE: Raytheon Company

CONTACT: Joyce Melikian of Raytheon Company, +1-339-645-6967

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