raytheon

Inside the Navy's next-generation destroyer

PORTSMOUTH, R.I.--As someone interested in the cutting edge, one of the best things about Road Trip 2010 has been getting a rare look at the U.S. Navy's next-generation aircraft carrier and the world's most advanced submarine.

But that wasn't enough for me. I also had to see where the Navy is going with destroyers, and that's why my visit to Raytheon's Seapower Capability Center here was such a good investment of time: I got a chance for a lengthy discussion on the next-generation, Zumwalt-class guided-missile destroyer, which the Navy expects to be … Read more

At Raytheon, where engineering rules

WALTHAM, Mass.--For Mark Russell, the vice president of engineering, technology, and mission assurance at defense giant Raytheon, engineering is not just his profession--it's also the lifeblood of the company.

It seems pretty obvious that engineering would be important at a company that makes just about every imaginable kind of defense system. But this important? At Raytheon, more than 40,000 of the total 75,000 employees are engineers, and the company is hiring thousands more each year.

To Russell, who grew up in the company (he's been there 27 years) it's a no-brainer that all six … Read more

Working to make combat soldiers' lives easier

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--In combat, things can be so chaotic and loud that soldiers sometimes aren't even aware they're being shot at.

But thanks to technology from the company that is often credited with inventing the Internet, thousands of American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are now able to rely on an automatic system that not only alerts them--in a very loud, urgent voice--that shots are being fired but also gives them an almost instant notification of where the shots are coming from.

This is Boomerang, a vehicle-mounted mobile acoustic shot detection system first developed by BBN Technologies in … Read more

Raytheon's killer laser takes aim

PORTSMOUTH, R.I.--Defense contractor Raytheon and the U.S. Navy said Tuesday that they had successfully conducted a test in which they used a high-power, solid-state laser, in conjunction with a Phalanx Close-in Weapon System, to kill four unmanned aerial vehicles out of the sky off the coast of California.

The system was electrically powered, and Raytheon said it offers the military a very cost-efficient and nearly unlimited "magazine" for shooting down things like threatening UAVs, or perhaps, airplanes. "Once development is completed," Raytheon said in a release, "the Laser Area Weapon System will … Read more

SUV nuke detector will avert covert attack, company claims

A turbo-charged engine, 21-inch wheels, Bluetooth, and 600-watt THX speakers are fine, but for the SUV owner who desires everything, how about a Mobile Nuclear Radiation Detection System?

Raytheon is offering the Sports Utility Vehicle-Based Radiation Detection System, which uses advanced spectroscopic technology to detect and identify nuclear radiation, whether sitting put or on the move.

Deploy quickly and set up your own checkpoint to screen for nuclear weapons, improvised nuclear devices, and dirty bombs or just cruise and troll for high gamma and stray neutrons. The system incorporates advanced threat identification algorithms that detect and identify most radiological materials.… Read more

Big Brother one step closer to floating eye in the sky

The U.S. government wants to build and deploy a huge stratospheric airship, three times the size of the Goodyear blimp, that is capable of spying on an entire city.

The idea is that the blimp, dubbed the "Integrated Sensor is Structure" (ISIS), would hover above the jet stream at 70,000 feet and use its giant, flexible radar antennae to acquire a "dynamic, detailed, real-time picture of all movement on or above the battlefield: friendly, neutral or enemy." And we thought surveillance satellites were sitting ducks.

One of the challenges has been to come up … Read more