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Raytheon Completes ASTOR Capabilities Testing With U.K. Ministry of Defence

Written by thomas · Filed Under Aeronautics News 

July 14, 2008

thomas

DALLAS, July 14, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN),
Raytheon Systems Limited and the U.K. Ministry of Defence have successfully
completed capabilities assurance mission (CAM) testing of the Airborne
Stand-Off Radar system.

A team from Raytheon and the U.K. Royal Air Force 5 Squadron conducted
six CAM tests to assess and prove the operational capabilities of the ASTOR
system. The tests built on one another in complexity to demonstrate how the
system would work in an actual mission scenario.

“The system will provide vital information and intelligence on the
modern battlefield,” said Bill Chrispin, leader of the defence ministry’s
ASTOR integrated product team. “The results emerging from the CAM tests
have boosted confidence that the system will provide the ground
surveillance capability required by our commanders in the field.”

The team tested airborne components of the system on the ASTOR Sentinel
aircraft. The team also tested tactical ground station aspects within the
defence ministry infrastructure and rated the overall performance of the
surveillance system.

“Our objective is to provide the Royal Air Force, the Army and the
Ministry of Defence with the confidence that the ASTOR system is ready for
operational deployment,” said James Klein, acting vice president for the
Raytheon Mission Systems Integration group. “The successful CAM tests
signify a culmination of industry and customer efforts to develop and
mature ASTOR.”

Klein said the testing not only verified the operational capabilities
of ASTOR “but also helps us stretch the limits of the technology,
ultimately allowing higher performance and raising the capability of the
system.”

“ASTOR provides the Royal Air Force and the British Army with
world-class capabilities: near real-time intelligence, surveillance and
reconnaissance and a net-enabled capability to disseminate the information
to warfighters,” said Brian McKeon, chief executive and managing director
of Raytheon Systems Limited, the company’s U.K. subsidiary. “The timely and
successful completion of the CAM tests reflects the team’s dedication and
commitment to execute on this program.”

The ASTOR system employs five Bombardier Global Express airplanes.
Dubbed Sentinel R Mk 1 in ASTOR service, each is equipped by Raytheon with
dual-mode (synthetic aperture and ground moving target indicator) radars.
Integrated platform workstations aboard each aircraft permit mission
management, imagery exploitation, and transmission of the imagery by secure
data link to the brigade and divisional/joint level ASTOR ground stations.
The system includes eight ground stations — six for tactical purposes and
two at the operational level — and full mission support capability from
Raytheon Systems Limited.

Raytheon Systems Limited is a prime contractor and major supplier to
the U.K. Ministry of Defence and is involved in numerous, high-priority
programs for the U.S. Department of Defense. RSL designs, develops and
manufactures a range of high technology defense and commercial electronic
systems at its facilities in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

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 86
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.

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