TUCSON, Ariz., Jan. 21, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- DARPA, the U.S.
Department of Defense's advanced research and technology branch,
has awarded a $2.5 million, Phase One
contract to Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) to develop new
technologies to boost the effectiveness and safety of infantry
squads.
The contract was awarded under DARPA's Squad X Core Technologies
(SXCT) program, which is designed to speed development of new,
lightweight, integrated systems to give infantry squads greater
awareness, adaptability and flexibility in complex environments.
The program will also enable dismounted soldiers and marines to
more easily understand and control their mission environments.
"We are working to enable ground troops to more effectively
operate in urban and complex environments," said Tom Bussing, Raytheon vice president of Advanced
Missile Systems. "Raytheon's experience as the systems integrator
for DARPA's Persistent Close Air Support program, which offered
distributed coordination between air and ground forces, will
provide an ideal starting point to help squads effectively perform
manned and unmanned teaming."
Raytheon is a prime contractor for research into technologies
for squad autonomy. SXCT will seek to give squad members real-time
knowledge of their own and teammates' locations to less than 20
feet (6 meters) in GPS-denied environments. The new technologies
will collaborate with embedded unmanned air and ground systems.
Raytheon, leading an industry team that includes Draper Labs and
Torc Robotics, brings its expertise in overall systems integration,
weapons and distributed air-to-ground processing to the
program.
About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of
$23 billion and 61,000 employees
worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in
defense, civil government and cybersecurity markets throughout the
world. With a history of innovation spanning 93 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 cybersecurity and a broad range of mission support services.
Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham,
Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us
at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter
@Raytheon.
Media Contact
John B. Patterson
+1.520.794.4559
rmspr@raytheon.com
To view the original version on PR Newswire,
visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/darpa-taps-raytheon-to-make-infantry-squads-more-adaptive-aware-and-effective-300207928.html
SOURCE Raytheon Company