Raytheon Buys High-Tech Defense Firm BBN for $350M
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Raytheon has completed its acquisition of BBN Technologies, a provider of high-tech defense products, for approximately $350 million, subject to post-closing adjustments.
BBN’s defense portfolio includes advanced networking, speech and language technologies, information technologies, sensor systems, and cybersecurity products. BBN has won numerous contracts from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to supply advanced technologies for the military…
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BBN has received DARPA contracts to develop a universal text engine for defense artificial intelligence applications, conduct research on military applications of quantum information science, and develop and deploy the Boomerang system to protect US troops from snipers.
The Boomerang system has already proven its usefulness. The original Boomerang prototypes were designed, developed, and delivered to Iraq in just 66 days under a 2004 Rapid Reaction Initiative and are currently employed by US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan
The Boomerang units attach to a vehicle and use seven small microphones, arranged like the spine of a sea urchin, to detect both the muzzle blast and the shock wave from a speeding bullet. Once a sniper’s bullet is detected, Boomerang’s display panel, which is located inside the vehicle, alerts soldiers through an LED 12-hour clock image display panel and speaker mounted inside the vehicle that a bullet has been fired, and gives its direction and elevation.
Raytheon said the acquisition of BBN will not materially impact its sales or earnings per share for the fourth quarter of 2009. The companies first announced their intention to merge in September 2009.
