WASHINGTON, Dec. 19, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has launched the first wide-area, long-range sensor that provides an unblinking 360-degree view of target areas.

The Eagle-300™ sensor, which Raytheon is manufacturing for SkyWatch LLC, enhances Raytheon's global border security and critical infrastructure protection capabilities.

"The Eagle-300 supports Raytheon's persistent surveillance strategy that emphasizes the ability of collection systems to linger on demand in an area and detect, locate, and track a target," said Gene Blackwell, Raytheon vice president of the company's Rapid Initiatives Group. "It also facilitates predictive techniques that enable forces to stop an attack before it starts. As part of a network operational center, it uses forensic techniques that enable forces to rewind an event, similar to a digital video recorder, and assist in an investigation."

The Rapid Initiatives Group is a Raytheon Network Centric Systems team that specializes in taking customer projects from concept to reality in a fraction of the normal procurement times. The RIG, in conjunction with Raytheon Vision Systems, integrated and tested the Eagle-300, so that it was ready for use in less than eight months.

"Sensors on the market currently provide a narrowly focused viewpoint so a single sensor would have to rotate 360 degrees to provide full coverage, which would not be continuous," said Harry "Skipper" Darlington, IV, SkyWatch chairman and CEO. "With the Eagle-300, you have the full 360-degree view continuously. That helps our customers accelerate their capability to detect, classify and respond to threats."

The sensor can be produced in 90-degree, 180-degree, 270-degree or 360-degree increments. Eagle-300 is composed of commercial off-the-shelf products and can be integrated to augment existing systems as part of a higher level operational architecture, or used as a stand alone sensor.

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:
  Ginny McAdams
  703.284.4412
  gmcadams@raytheon.com

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

CONTACT: Ginny McAdams, +1-703-284-4412, gmcadams@raytheon.com, of
Raytheon Company

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