GARLAND, Texas, July 9, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has been awarded a U.S. Air Force contract to develop the next generation of the Distributed Common Ground System (DCGS) Integration Backbone (DIB).

The DIB is an architecture through which military analysts and the intelligence communities can collaborate globally, regardless of their military service affiliation, enabling joint interoperability. The architecture connects disparate locations and allows users with the appropriate security clearance to access a host of intelligence sources.

Raytheon first developed the DIB under the DCGS 10.2 contract for the Air Force and has delivered more than 110 units of the software to integrate into their existing and emerging systems. The DIB has been delivered to the military services and intelligence community and will soon be fielded at all Air Force DCGS sites.

The DIB 1.2 updates will extend the baseline architecture to address new requirements for more widespread sharing of data across enterprise firewalls. The updates will provide expanded event delivery and notification capabilities using mechanisms such as real simple syndication, or RSS, and E-mail, with additional enhancements for data retrieval and presentation of results to the user.

Raytheon designed and developed the DIB roadmap process to increase the latest enhancements for the DIB1.2 product. The DIB roadmap provides a plan for regular enhancement cycles to stay attuned to the latest technologies and to provide new features and services to the user community. Raytheon will work closely with the DIB Management Office to ensure that the company addresses the latest inputs from the user community.

"This next version of the DIB will deliver significant advantages to military analysts to perform their missions flawlessly," said Anthony DiFurio, director of Multi-Intelligence Systems for Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems. "The DIB is an essential architecture for discovering and sharing information in the ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) community, which was a major shortfall cited by the 9/11 Commission."

Based in Garland, Texas, Raytheon IIS is a leading provider of information and intelligence solutions to the government. Raytheon IIS has annual revenues of approximately $2.6 billion and employs more than 8,000 engineering and technical professionals worldwide. Raytheon IIS recently achieved a strategic milestone in earning CMMI® (Capability Maturity Model Integration) Maturity Level 3 accreditation for the full model scope (System Engineering, Software Engineering, Integrated Product and Process Development, and Supplier Sourcing) across its enterprise.

Raytheon Company, with 2006 sales of $20.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 85 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 a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people worldwide.

  Contact:
  Keith Little
  703.849.1675
  KDLittle@raytheon.com

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

CONTACT: Keith Little of Raytheon Company, +1-703-849-1675,
KDLittle@raytheon.com

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