TEWKSBURY, Mass., April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- Two Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) employees received the Missile Defense Agency's Technology Pioneer Award at the 6th Annual U.S. Missile Defense Conference in Washington, D.C., March 31.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry "Trey" Obering III, director of the Missile Defense Agency, presented the awards for significant contributions in missile defense to Michael T. Borkowski, technical director, Raytheon RF Components, and David G. Laighton, former chief engineer, Raytheon RF Components.

"It's an honor to have our employees recognized for their efforts in advancing missile defense technology," said Pete Franklin, vice president, National & Theater Security Programs for Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems. "Raytheon is proud of its leadership and innovation in the development and deployment of a Ballistic Missile Defense System capable of defending our nation, our deployed forces, friends and allies."

Borkowski and Laighton were honored for the development of affordable and reliable X-band solid state monolithic microwave integrated circuit transmit-receive modules, which form the basic building block of the current U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense System X-band radars. These Raytheon-developed sensors include the AN/TPY-2 (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense radar and BMDS forward-based radar), X-band radar aboard the Sea-Based X-band radar vessel, Ground-Based Radar-Prototype, and the Transportable Surveillance X-band radar.

Laighton provided the vision that resulted in the government's decision to build a family of radar systems based upon solid state X-band technology. Borkowski led the electrical and mechanical module design team. Jointly, they developed an innovative approach, resulting in a high-power, solid state X-band transmit-receive module that was cost effective and producible in high volume.

The U.S. Missile Defense Agency introduced the Technology Pioneer Award in 2006 to recognize individuals and teams that have contributed to the advancement of science and technology to enable the development of missile defense concepts.

Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in Joint Battlespace Integration providing affordable, integrated solutions to a broad international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security.

Raytheon Company, with 2007 sales of $21.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning more than 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 72,000 people worldwide.

SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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

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