MARLBOROUGH, MA, April 13, 2007 - Satnews Daily - The Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) will upgrade its Secure Mobile Anti-jam Reliable Tactical Terminal, or SMART-T, for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps, and Canada and The Netherlands under an $84.6 million contract. The upgrade will quadruple the data rate of existing SMART-T systems.
The U.S. Army's SMART-T is the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system to go into production with the proven capability to communicate with the next generation of AEHF communications satellites. AEHF is the Department of Defense's primary system to provide highly protected satellite communications through 2020.
The AEHF upgrade incorporates Raytheon's eXtended Data Rate (XDR) waveform hardware and software modifications, a technological breakthrough in protected communications. The new XDR waveform provides users with increased bandwidth, enabling tactical military communications such as real-time video, battlefield mapping and targeting data.
"We have fielded more than 300 SMART-T systems to date, and with the added AEHF capability, we are assuring the readiness of tomorrow's communications systems," said Jerry Powlen, vice president, Network Centric Systems' Integrated Communications Systems. "We appreciate the confidence the Army has shown in our solution with this award, and we look forward to delivering our AEHF solution to the Navy and the Air Force in the near future as well."
The company's non-proprietary SMART-T software has been the genesis for other critical programs including Raytheon's proposed solution for the Navy's Multiband Terminal. It provides the services with essential, joint interoperable capability for legacy EHF and future AEHF communications.
Raytheon, with 2006 sales of $20.3 billion, is a technology leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. 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.
