Raytheon awarded Phase II from JNLWD

TEWKSBURY, Mass., March 13 (UPI) -- The U.S. Defense Department has awarded a Phase II contract to Raytheon Co. to continue development of a non-lethal weapons technology.

Raytheon said its Integrated Defense Systems unit was awarded the contract from the Defense Department's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. Under the deal, Raytheon will continue work on a gallium nitride, or GaN, solid-state source technology.

Company officials said the technology is under development for application with radars, electronic warfare and communications systems and other non-lethal weapons.

"Our support of the JNLWD is for very high frequency, millimeter-wave GaN to provide the war fighter with a lower-cost, lighter-weight, non-lethal engagement alternative," Michael Del Checcolo, Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems vice president of engineering, said in a statement.