Father of 'Pit Stop' Engineering Joins Raytheon-led IBCS Team

TEWKSBURY, Mass., April 10, 2008 /PRNewswire/ -- An engineering design
consulting firm born in the split-second world of Formula One and NASCAR
racing is bringing its unique expertise to the Raytheon Company-led (NYSE:
RTN) Team Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System (IBCS).
Carlson Technology, led by founder Dennis Carlson, is known for its "pit
stop" technology and unique design elements including "tool-less" maintenance,
rapid repair and replace, modular design and a "first to ninety-ninth
percentile" soldier ergonomics design. Carlson joins other key team members
collaborating on the IBCS proposal including General Dynamics, IBM, Teledyne
Brown Engineering and Davidson Technologies.
Team IBCS recently completed its proposal for the three-phase IBCS
program, which is a U.S. Army and joint development program with a modular,
open architecture, system-of-systems construct allowing warfighters to use any
sensor and any shooter within an integrated fire control network.
Carlson's unique "pit stop" engineering began in the early 1980s when he
invented the "cool suit" for race car drivers. The compact, lightweight
cooling system, incorporating space-age thermoelectric modules, was a
tremendous success and considered revolutionary for the racing industry. Using
the same rapid pit stop mentality, this success encouraged Carlson to branch
out into engineering techniques and tactics known for smaller and lighter
modules, enabling modular component replacement without any tools in fewer
than 10 seconds.
Carlson Technology has won numerous industry and Department of Defense
design awards. In addition, Carlson has also served on the Army Science Board
and continues to provide design recommendations to the Army for its Future
Combat Systems.
"Dennis Carlson brings an innovative, 'soldier first' design perspective
that permeates our entire proposal. It addresses soldier physical needs and
constraints early in the design - and transcends to cognitive considerations
and affordable produceability as well," said Dan Kirby, Raytheon's director of
JFires/System of Systems and leader of Team IBCS.
"It was easy to join a team that we had worked so successfully with in the
past," Carlson said. "I hope we can push the edge on IBCS and attain similar
recognition such as the Gold Award in BusinessWeek magazine's Annual Design
Review and the DoD David Packard Acquisition Excellence Award for Logistics
that were achieved on prior projects."
Raytheon Team IBCS is committed to providing our U.S. Army and joint
warfighters with the lowest-risk, best-of-breed value solution for the
transformation to the plug-and-fight systems. Poised and ready to meet the
IBCS early contingency capability in 2011 and 2014 fielding requirements by
bringing extensive experience in all system critical technology elements,
Raytheon has completed a number of recent successful hardware-in-the-loop
prototype efforts. One of these was the demonstration of the JFires Single
Integrated Air Picture to senior Army leaders in March.
Integrated Defense Systems is Raytheon's leader in Joint Battlespace
Integration providing affordable, integrated solutions to a broad
international and domestic customer base, including the U.S. Missile Defense
Agency, the U.S. Armed Forces and the Department of Homeland Security.
Raytheon Company, with 2007 sales of $21.3 billion, is a technology leader
specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets
throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning more than 85
years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems
integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and
command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad
range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass.,
Raytheon employs 72,000 people worldwide.
Contact:
Jim Keller
256.542.4051

SOURCE Raytheon Company

Jim Keller of Raytheon Company, +1-256-542-4051