St. Petersburg Times July 23, 2008
Raytheon's two military contracts a local boost
By Kris Hundley
ST. PETERSBURG — Raytheon Co. in Pinellas County has landed two major contracts that assure expansion and continued development of a naval communications network that's been more than 15 years in the making.
Known as CEC, for Cooperative Engagement Capability, the sensor-netting system was developed as a missile defense system for the U.S. Navy's fleets. This week, the Raytheon division responsible for CEC, based in St. Petersburg, received a $136-million contract for production of CEC systems for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. A $206-million award earlier this year will fund design improvements on the system, more than 100 of which have been installed on naval aircraft carriers, destroyers, cruisers and aircraft.
The majority of CEC work will continue to be performed at Raytheon's facilities in St. Petersburg and Largo, where the company employs about 1,600. While no positions will be added, the company has hired 60 engineers this year for the project.
Pat Speake, Raytheon's CEC project manager, said the system has received high marks from the Navy. "Rather than just looking at a whole bunch of dots on a radar, you know what everything is and where it is," he said.
John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org in Alexandria, Va., said it's good news if CEC is being adopted by others.
"They had lots of problems with CEC to begin with, but they finally came up with something that works," he said of the program, which has cost more than $1-billion. "Having this kind of common operating picture is the Holy Grail of network centric warfare. The other services decided it was better to buy it than build it."
© Copyright 2008, St. Petersburg Times
