FARNBOROUGH, England and TUCSON, Ariz., July 20  /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon
Company is developing a new variant of the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) that
will significantly lower unit cost and offer an additional payload option.

    Raytheon, under contract with U.S. Naval Air Systems Command, expects to
complete development of the JSOW Block II in early 2006.  Block II is planned
to reduce JSOW unit cost by reducing the parts count and improving the
manufacturing process.  All variants of future JSOW will be manufactured in
the Block II configuration.  Block II will maintain all of the standoff and
survivability of the current JSOW and include an improved anti-jam Global
Positioning System receiver.

    Development of a new payload option for the JSOW A is underway which
should also be complete in early 2006.  The new version will use a unitary 500
pound BLU 111 warhead. This unitary variant will eliminate the unexploded
ordnance concerns of cluster munitions while maintaining or increasing
effectiveness against a broad target set. It is primarily intended for the
international market. Work will be performed at Raytheon's Missile Systems
business in Tucson.

    "We've received fantastic feedback on the combat capability of JSOW," said
Ron Shields, Raytheon's JSOW program director. "We are working with the Navy
to make JSOW an even more cost effective weapon with increased capability."
More than 400 JSOW-A weapons have been used in combat operations to date.

    JSOW is a joint Navy and Air Force program. It is a family of low-cost,
air-to-ground weapons that employ an integrated Global Positioning
System/Inertial Navigation system to guide the weapon to the target. The JSOW
uses a common and modular weapon body capable of carrying various payloads.
Its long standoff range of 70 nautical miles (maximum kinematic performance)
allows delivery from well outside the lethal range of most enemy air defenses.
The AGM-154A (also called JSOW-A) variant dispenses BLU-97 combined-effect
bomblets for use against soft and area targets. It is produced for use on the
F/A-18, F-16, F-15E, B-1, B-2 and B-52 aircraft.

    The AGM-154C, or JSOW-C, variant incorporates an imaging infrared seeker
for high precision and a BAE Systems' Broach multi-stage warhead that has both
a blast-fragmentation and hard target penetration capability for use against
point targets. JSOW-C entered low-rate initial production in June 2003. It is
currently being produced for Navy F/A-18s and has been selected by Poland for
use on its F-16s.

    The new JSOW variant builds on a legacy of 13 years of development and
production experience providing the weapons to Navy and Air Force for use on
six different aircraft. Raytheon continues to add new capabilities to meet our
customers' needs.

    Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2003 sales of $18.1 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 78,000 people worldwide.


  Contact:
   Alan D. Fischer
   520.794.1211

   Colleen Niccum
   07795397049


SOURCE: Raytheon Company

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