WALTHAM, Mass., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Raytheon will sponsor the second annual Soldier Design Competition hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Institute of Soldier Nanotechnology (ISN). The competition began on Sept. 16, 2003 and invites student teams to compete for $11,000 in prize money by applying their creativity and engineering skills to develop solutions to common problems of the modern soldier. Raytheon will donate $25,000 to the competition and will send two employees to mentor this year's participants.

"ISN's Soldier Design Competition underscores the crucial role that math and science education can play in protecting our troops," said Kevin Riley, vice president of Technology at Raytheon Network Centric Systems. "The contest both encourages students to demonstrate their talent and leadership. Their ideas may help keep our soldiers safe on the battlefield."

The Soldier Design Competition, first launched in September 2003, aims to generate new products and systems, designed by student teams, which will help the modern soldier both on and off the battlefield. Focused on practical, non-weapon products like pocket-sized bolt cutters and personal cooling systems, the technology that comes out of the competition often has multi-use potential for firefighters, police, and even athletes. Last year's first- place team developed the "TacShot," a rocket-launched aerial reconnaissance photography system. Some of this year's projects include a portable power generation system, a powered rope ascender, and a hands-free casualty carriage system.

ISN was founded in March 2002 with a $50 million contract from the U.S. Army. Raytheon, DuPont, and Partners Healthcare are the founding partners of the institute. ISN is working to help the U.S. Army redesign itself as a lighter, faster, more agile force that can be deployed quickly where soldiers are needed. Raytheon is committed to developing technology that protects our troops on the battlefield.
ISN's research mission is to apply miniaturized and multifunctional nanotechnology to the warfighter's battlesuit to dramatically improve the survivability of our soldiers. Their challenge is to transform today's cotton/nylon fatigues and bulky equipment belts to a sleek, lightweight battlesuit that provides everything from responsive armor to medical monitoring to communications-and more-in one integrated system. ISN's current research projects in battlesuit development include spandex-thin bulletproof armor, biomedical monitoring, automated medical treatment, and immediate chemical and biological contamination response.

Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) , with 2003 sales of $18.1 billion, is an industry leader in defense, government and commercial electronics, space, information technology, technical services, and business and special mission aircraft. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs more than 78,000 people worldwide.

Source: Raytheon Company

CONTACT: Nicholas Garrison of Raytheon Company, +1-781-522-6490
Web site: http://www.raytheon.com/