Raytheon Delivers Next-Gen Forecasting Tools to National Weather Service

SILVER SPRING, Md., May 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- When severe weather strikes, forecasters at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service (NOAA/NWS) need advanced tools they can rely on to make the decisions that protect property and safeguard lives. Raytheon Company's (NYSE:RTN) Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System II (AWIPS II), a forecasting analysis and display toolkit, was recently installed at all coastal Atlantic NWS weather forecasting offices (WFO), placing advanced visualization and data analysis capabilities at forecasters' fingertips.

Developed by Raytheon for NOAA/NWS, AWIPS II was installed at 22 tropical offices in March, ahead of the planned April program milestone, delivering the powerful new tool to NOAA/NWS forecasters ahead of hurricane season.    

"Installation is a significant milestone in the AWIPS program," said Andre Tarro, Raytheon AWIPS program manager. "With this system, forecasters can better employ watches and warnings not only in tropical areas, but beyond."

AWIPS II is being installed at all 122 WFOs across the U.S., including the 13 River Forecast Centers and nine National Centers. The National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida, will use AWIPS II to issue graphical forecasts during the 2015 Hurricane Season, which begins on June 1 and runs through October.

"Early delivery means there will be no interruptions in the vital service provided by the National Weather Service forecasters," added Tarro. "Raytheon was able to bring a novel architecture to make AWIPS II installation efficient and fast, with software installation times measured in hours. With 40 years of support to the weather community and ten years working on AWIPS, Raytheon understands the vital need for reliable weather data delivery."

Raytheon is an environmental intelligence leader, supporting customers across the weather and climate enterprise. Raytheon has space-based sensors such as the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite; ground-based facilities such as the Joint Polar Satellite System Common Ground System, which provides mission planning, command, control and communications, data routing and data processing for satellite programs; and tools such as AWIPS II for data visualization.

About Raytheon
Raytheon Company, with 2014 sales of $23 billion and 61,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, security and civil markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 93 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 cyber security and a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter @raytheon.

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