Raytheon is Pleased that FAA Confirms STARS As Air Traffic Control System of the Future, Disagrees With Interim Approach

Business Wire, April 27, 1999

LEXINGTON, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 26, 1999--

Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTNA)(NYSE:RTNB) is pleased by the FAA's continued support of its STARS system as the air traffic control system of the future, but has concerns about the performance of ARTS Color Display (ACD), the system selected by the FAA to be deployed on an interim basis at some high-traffic airports, including New York and Washington, D.C.

"We are encouraged that the FAA, NATCA and PASS have committed to Raytheon's full STARS as the state-of-the-art air traffic control system for the next century and is moving ahead on its successful implementation," said Frank Marchilena, senior vice president, general manager of Command, Control, Communication and Information Systems for Raytheon Company. "At the same time, we are disappointed by the agency's decision to deploy ACD as an interim display rather than the STARS Early Display Configuration (EDC).

"We are concerned about the costs, schedule and performance of ACD and believe that an independent evaluation would show that EDC is the superior system and more cost effective," Marchilena said. Due to Raytheon's concerns, the company requested that the FAA conduct a comparison of ACD and EDC by an independent qualified technical organization to determine which system would best fill the immediate need. Marchilena said the approach was discussed with the FAA before the agency announced its decision today.

The ACD test requirements (which control the product design) consist of a collection of only 140 demonstration items compared with more than 700 formal test requirements for STARS EDC. There were numerous issues raised during the informal tests, and there is no evidence these issues have been corrected.

While the STARS EDC display has been continuously evolved during the past year to incorporate numerous modifications deemed to be safety critical by the FAA, data provided by the FAA show that ACD has failed many tests and has not been tested at all in numerous key areas. The testing of ACD has contrasted sharply with STARS EDC. Since 1997, ACD has had only five days of informal demonstrations compared with 60 days of formal testing for STARS EDC.

"The FAA has decided to go with an interim system. While we do not agree, we remain committed to working closely with the FAA, air traffic controllers, and technicians to bring the full STARS to implementation," said Marchilena.

Raytheon Company, based in Lexington, Mass., is a global technology leader that provides products and services in the areas of commercial and defense electronics, engineering and construction, and business and special mission aircraft. Raytheon has operations throughout the United States and serves customers in more than 80 countries.