Raytheon BBN Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of
Raytheon Company
(
RTN
), has received an additional $5.9 million contract from The
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ("DARPA") under the
Multilingual Automatic Document Classification, Analysis and
Translation ("MADCAT") program.
BBN Technologies has been successfully performing the program for
four years. The business wing became a part of Raytheon in 2009.
Then, in July 2010, it received an additional $6.14 million
contract from DARPA under the MADCAT program. By then, it had
completed two successful years of the program.
With its translation and distillation techniques, the company will
integrate optical character recognition, develop novel methods to
process handwritten text and will develop a laptop-deployable
prototype translation system.
Foreign language translation is slow, expensive, erratic and
difficult to access on the battlefield. Through this program, the
company aims at creating a prototype system that provides precise,
appropriate and distilled information to military commands and
personnel.
With the system, foreign language text images, such as
handwritten notes and machine-printed documents, will be
automatically converted into English transcripts without manual
help. The technology would also facilitate linguists and analysts
to more effectively analyze any document.
The company has also received a $3.1 million contract from the U.S.
Army's Communications, Electronics, Research, Development and
Engineering Center (CERDEC), Space and Terrestrial Communications
Directorate to develop technology for Morphing Network Assets to
Restrict Adversarial Reconnaissance (MORPHINATOR). Per this
contract, the company will develop "cyber maneuver" techniques to
thwart potential attackers in high-threat environments.
Cyber maneuver is the system in which characteristics and
configurations of networks are modified in a manner that become
undetectable and unpredictable by opponents and attackers but are
convenient for network administrators.
The medley of contracts at Raytheon thus ranges from providing
translation services to sophisticated cyber security solutions.
Overall, the contract wins will lead to revenue growth. Going
forward, we expect revenue and earnings growth to be driven by its
strong presence in the areas of Intelligence, Surveillance and
Reconnaissance, air & missile defense systems; border security;
air traffic management; training and homeland security; and cyber
security.
The company presently retains a short-term Zacks #2 Rank (Buy). The
company mainly competes with
L-3 Communications Holdings Inc.
(
LLL
) and
FLIR Systems Inc.
(
FLIR
).
FLIR SYSTEMS (FLIR): Free Stock Analysis Report
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RAYTHEON CO (RTN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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