[SatNews] Thanks to a newly awarded $103 million Federal Aviation Administration contract, Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) will field the newest element in a space-based system which makes air travel safer and more efficient for millions of travelers.

The Raytheon-supplied system will be a key feature of the FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), which improves the availability and accuracy of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals to enable use by commercial and general aviation aircraft. The company will develop a payload to be incorporated into a new geostationary (GEO) satellite and two associated ground uplink stations to support the WAAS system within U.S. airspace.

"The WAAS system is a critical component to ensuring our national airspace remains safe, especially with the increased volume of air traffic," said Michael Espinola, managing director, Raytheon Air Traffic Systems."Raytheon's 18 years of collaboration with the FAA continues to deliver accurate, high-integrity GPS navigation technologies to all pilots within the national airspace."Â