Navy awards Raytheon $1b contract

Firm will create combat systems for new destroyer

Waltham defense contractor Raytheon Co. yesterday won a nearly $1 billion Navy contract that will take its combat systems for the new DDG 1000 Zumwalt-class destroyer from design into production.

The contract had been widely anticipated since 2005, when Raytheon beat out rival Lockheed Martin Corp., the Pentagon's largest weapons maker, to be selected as prime contractor for the radar, sonar, communications, and electronics gear on the guided missile destroyer.

But it had been delayed several times as Raytheon has continued with its design work on systems for the 14,000-ton vessel, its single largest development program. Raytheon has assigned about 2,500 employees in Tewksbury, Andover, Portsmouth, R.I., and elsewhere to the DDG 1000 program. While the destroyers are projected to cost $3 billion apiece, it has yet to be determined how many will be built.

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