Raytheon STARS team selected by FAA for $1 billion modernization program.

WASHINGTON, D.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 1996--Raytheon Electronic Systems (RES) has been awarded a contract from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which ultimately could be worth nearly $1 billion, for the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS). The STARS system will modernize and upgrade 331 Terminal Automation Systems for the FAA and Department of Defense. This modernization program will replace aging terminal automation equipment with an open system architecture.

The STARS system will accept data from radars and enroute centers to provide the radar data processing display and modification of flight data, which allows control and separation of aircraft in the terminal airspace, and will also assure a safe, long-term obsolescence-free operation. STARS will provide a safe, automated system for airport approach and departure control and better on-time schedules in all weather conditions. The program is expected to grow over $1 billion over the next eight years.

Raytheon is the prime contractor for the STARS team which includes Hughes, which will provide its TRAC-VIEW system as emergency back-up and installation at DoD sites; SUN Microsystems, which will provide computers and processors; United Faculty Associates (UFA), which will provide flight simulators; and Jerry Thompson Associates (JTA), who will do transition planning. Engineering and design work will take place at RaytheonUs Marlborough, Mass., facility as well as at the facilities of other team members.

"The STARS automation system provides the terminal hardware and software necessary to meet the expected growth in air traffic," said C. Dale Reis, senior vice president and deputy general manager of RES. "These enhancements will also permit streamlined aircraft flight routes that have the potential for significantly improved airline operating efficiencies."

"Our team's open architecture Air Traffic Control (ATC) systems are installed and controlling operational traffic in 19 countries around the world, and provide the commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) environment which is fully capable of meeting present and future STARS requirements," said Mike M. Hoeffler, RES Transportation Systems manager.

The Raytheon STARS team will provide existing, proven software, over 90 percent of which is already working in both domestic and international Air Traffic Management programs. Raytheon is recognized as an industry leader for its mature software development process which is rated by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) as SEI Level 3. This means that the software meets SEI criteria for error-free software used in safety-critical applications.

Raytheon will provide its AutoTrac automation system as the full service channel. RaytheonUs AutoTrac system is being used in countries around the world to include India, Norway, Oman, Netherlands, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, the PeopleUs Republic of China, Lebanon and Jamaica. Raytheon will also do installation at all FAA sites. As subcontractor, Hughes will supply its TracView System as the emergency back up system. Hughes is also rated at SEI Level 3 in terms of software development.

Boston's Logan Airport and Eglin Air Force Base in Florida will be the recipients of the first two systems in the United States. These systems will be operational in December 1998 and the total STARS program implementation will take place over a 10 year period.

Raytheon, with over one third of the world ATC market, is the premier system integrator for all components of modern air traffic control systems. Raytheon has been supporting and evolving a true COTS- based open system product line over the last five years. For example, the Norway ATC system, operational at Oslo, is the first open architecture integrated flight and radar data processing system in the world using COTS hardware.

Raytheon Company, headquartered in Lexington, Mass., is a $12 billion international, high technology company which also operates in these business areas: commercial and defense electronics, engineering and construction, aircraft and major appliances.

CONTACT: Raytheon Company

Blanche Necessary, 703-416-5807