EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Dec. 29, 2011. Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) booked $320 million this month in new contract awards related to its active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar programs for domestic and international customers.

With active electronic beam scanning, which allows the radar beam to be steered at nearly the speed of light, Raytheon AESA radars enhance situational awareness and provide air-to-air and air-to-surface capability. The agile beam enables the radars to "interleave" in near-real time, so that pilot and crew can use both modes simultaneously.

More than 300 AESA radar systems have been delivered by Raytheon to customers for multiple platforms worldwide, and have been in service for more than 250,000 operational flight hours.