(By Balaseshan) Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN) said it has received a contract worth $422 million for its combat-proven Paveway II family of precision-guided munitions.
The company was awarded the direct commercial sale from an international customer. Raytheon said the company continues to evolve Paveway to meet the needs of the U.S. armed forces as well as allied nations.
The Paveway family of laser-guided and GPS and laser-guided bombs has revolutionized tactical air-to-ground warfare by converting "dumb" bombs into precision-guided munitions.
Newer versions of Paveway include Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System guidance capabilities, which combine the precision and flexibility of traditional laser-guided weapons with the all-weather capability of GPS guidance, resulting in a weapon that decreases the required sortie count and weapon inventory while simultaneously increasing the mission success rate.
Bombs equipped with Paveway kits have been put to the test and proved themselves, time and again, as the weapon of choice by 43 customers.
Raytheon said Paveway laser-guided bomb kits comprised more than half the air-to-ground precision-guided weapons used in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and Unified Protector.
Raytheon, which is based in Waltham, Massachusetts, provides electronics, mission systems integration, and other capabilities in the areas of sensing, effects, and command, control, communications, and intelligence systems, as well as a range of mission support services in the United States and internationally.
RTN closed Tuesday's regular session at $56.11. The stock has been trading between $43.57 and $58.68 for the past 52 weeks.