aerobd.news : Air Force Research Laboratory and Office of the Secretary of Defense tap Raytheon to drive GaN performance, TheU.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and the Office of the Secretary of Defensehave awarded Raytheon Company [NYSE: RTN]a $14.9Mcontract to further enhance its process for producing gallium nitride-basedsemiconductors.The new agreement follows a previous GaNTitle III contract,completed in 2013,and aims to increase theperformance,yield and reliability of RaytheonGaN-based,wideband,monolithic,microwave-integrated circuits and circulator components.

GaN is a semiconductor material that can efficiently amplify high power radio frequency signals at microwave frequenciesthereby enhancing a system’srange and raid handling,while reducing size, weight, power and cost. It is used in a broadspectrum of military radars anddefense systems, including the U.S. Navy’s Air and Missile Defense Radar and Next Generation Jammer.

“We have only scratched the surface when it comes to harnessing the game-changing power that gallium nitride technology can bring to military applications,” said Colin Whelan, vice president of Advanced Technology in Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business unit. “This contract will build on the 17-year, two-hundred-plus million-dollar investment Raytheon has made in maturing GaN. Over the next two years, we will further refine our GaN process to push the limits of radio frequency performance while maintaining or increasingyield and reliability.”
The first demonstrator of this technology will be incorporated into Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems’ Next Generation Jammer program, which is scheduled for low-rate initial production in 2018.

About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2015 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. With a history of innovation spanning 94 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration, C5ITM products and services, sensing, effects, and mission support for customers in more than 80 countries. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts. Follow us on Twitter @Raytheon.