ARLINGTON, Tex., September 8, 1999 - Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTNA, RTNB) announced today it has completed the upgrade and installation of 28 F-16 Block 40 close air support (CAS) maintenance trainers for the United States Air Force.

Seven U.S. Air Force bases have each received a suite of four maintenance trainers. They are Luke AFB, Ariz.; Sheppard AFB, Tex.; Cannon AFB, N.M.; Moody AFB, Ga.; Shaw AFB, S.C.; Nellis AFB, Nev.; and a site in Aviano, Italy.

"The F-16 Block 40 close air support maintenance trainer upgrade effort has been completed on schedule and brings the Air Force's maintenance training capability closer to concurrency with today's F-16 fleet," said Gary Nesta, Raytheon Systems Company's director of flight simulation. "The program's success was due in large part to a very cooperative integrated product team environment involving our Air Force customer."

Through the use of these maintenance trainers, personnel will be able to train on major F-16 Block 40 CAS aircraft subsystems. U.S. Air Force maintenance personnel will be able to train on subsystems including fire control and armament; flight control and instruments; and communications, navigation and electronic countermeasures avionics systems. Maintenance personnel will be able to perform both operational checkouts and troubleshooting on these aircraft subsystems.

The fire control maintenance trainer and armament trainer support 34 and 42 simulated aircraft malfunctions, respectively. The avionics maintenance trainer provides 58 simulated aircraft malfunctions. The flight control and instruments systems trainer supports 41 simulated aircraft malfunctions. Each trainer supports approximately three faulty component options per malfunction that maintenance personnel can troubleshoot.

Combined, the four F-16 Block 40 CAS maintenance trainers provide 228 tasks for maintenance personnel to perform on the aircraft's subsystems.

All of the F-16 Block 40 CAS maintenance trainers consist of a spatially accurate, high fidelity cockpit; a flat panel that displays two and three-dimensional simulations; and an interactive video station for student or instructor interface.

In addition, each trainer is equipped with simulated test sets normally used in flight-line maintenance that maintenance personnel can connect to the simulation panel and F-16 cockpit.

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 around the world.