Raytheon Industry Development Unit Celebrates First Anniversary

Brisbane – 18 November 2010: The first anniversary of the Raytheon Industry Development Unit (IDU) was celebrated at the Land Warfare Conference with a series of presentations to Australian small to medium sized enterprises on Raytheon’s global supply chain activities. The presentations were the latest steps taken by the company to engage with local industry to promote Australian defence exports.

Over the course of the past year Raytheon’s IDU has identified numerous potential opportunities for Australian firms in the Raytheon global supply chain, mentored Australian industry on the US defence market and provided advice to help guide local firms through the maze of US defence regulatory process.

Raytheon Australia’s Managing Director, Michael Ward, praised the work of the unit in its first year that has demonstrated the company’s commitment to Australian SME’s saying “I am delighted with the efforts of Raytheon’s Industry Development Unit that have promoted Australian defence exports to the world.”

Mr Ward pointed to the IDU’s key achievements after its first year of operation. These included:

•     13 contracts awarded to the value of more than A$50 million;
•     195 companies who have registered interest with the IDU;
•     53 companies actively engaged across five Raytheon Company US business units;
•     16 major Raytheon Company programs and 23 key commodity/technology areas being pursued; and
•     67 companies engaged in IDU mentoring and training activities.

Indicating that these results reflected favourably upon Raytheon Australia, Mr Ward also paid credit to the Australian Government for its direction in this policy area and to the DMO’s industry division for its willingness to partner with the defence industry to bring about such strong outcomes.

Raytheon’s IDU Land Warfare Conference activities follow the successful tour of Raytheon Company US based businesses by the Director of the DMO’s Global Supply Chain Program, Mr Ken Thomson. Mr Thomson was hosted by the unit on a series of visits to promote IDU engagement and global supply chain program objectives within the United States. The tour included visits to Raytheon operations in Massachusetts, California, Arizona, Texas, Rhode Island and Indiana. The visit also coincided with Raytheon Company’s annual Global Partnering Summit held in Waltham MA, where the DMO presented on the topic of “Australian Industry Policy: AIC versus Offsets.”

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Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN), with 2009 sales of $25 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 88 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 a broad range of mission support services. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 75,000 people worldwide.

Further information:
Gerry Wheeler
0439 501 327
Gerard.Wheeler@Raytheon.com.au