Raytheon Delivers 2,000th Joint Standoff Weapon

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Raytheon Delivers 2,000th Joint Standoff Weapon
    TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 29, 2005 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company has
delivered the 2,000th Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW), providing the warfighter
the ability to use a precision guided air-to-ground weapon while staying out
of harm's way. A JSOW-A was shipped to the U.S. Air Force, representing more
than 48 months of on time deliveries of JSOW to the U.S. government.
    Raytheon is under contract with the Naval Air Systems Command to provide
JSOW to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. JSOW deliveries started in
1997 with the first low-rate initial production delivery to the U.S. Navy.
    "We are proud of our record of four years of on time JSOW production that
provides our warfighters with a critical weapon," said Harry Schulte, Strike
Weapons vice president at Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson."  This
represents a lot of hard work and careful planning by all members of the JSOW
team both on the contractor and government side."
    JSOW production will transition to Block II in 2006, which will
significantly lower the unit price of the air-to-ground long-range standoff
weapons. Raytheon and the U.S. Navy are also starting development of a Block
III variant of JSOW, which will add moving target capability to JSOW by adding
a weapons data link and other improvements.
    "We plan to give our warfighters a network-ready weapon, which provides
capability to engage moving land and sea targets at range," said Cmdr. Drew
Hartigan, the Navy's deputy JSOW program manager. "JSOW Block III represents a
significant step forward for strike weapons."
    Block III will enable warfighters to attack moving land and sea targets in
adverse weather from standoff range. Continued unit cost reduction is also
included in Block III. The first Block III weapon is scheduled to be produced
in 2009.
    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 that guides the weapon to the target. The
JSOW uses a common and modular weapon body capable of carrying various
payloads. Its long standoff range, greater than 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
Broach multi-stage warhead, which has both a blast-fragmentation and hard
target penetration capability for use against point targets. JSOW-C is in full
rate production and achieved initial operation capability in February 2005
with the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. It is currently being produced for Navy
F/A-18s and has been selected by Poland for use on its F-16s.  More than 400
JSOW-As have been used in combat operations to date.
    Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2004 sales of $20.2 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.

    Contact:
     Alan D. Fischer
     520.794.1211
SOURCE Raytheon Company
http://www.raytheon.com
CONTACT:
Alan D. Fischer of Raytheon Company,
+1-520-794-1211