Raytheon wins $1.3 billion contract

BOSTON --Raytheon Co. has won a $1.3 billion Army contract to develop and test a new radar system designed to protect troops from cruise missile attacks, a published report said on Tuesday.

The Waltham defense company will announce the contract this week, according to a Boston Globe report. It would be the second giant contract this year for Raytheon's Integrated Defense Systems business in Tewksbury.

The new contract will is part of the US military's seven-year-old program called JLENS -- Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor System.

In the system, a high-flying blimp, called an Aerostat, is connected by cable to a power station. From thousands of feet off the ground, its radar and sensors could monitor hundreds of miles of battleground territory. The goal is for the blimp to detect incoming missiles and alert air defense systems that can knock them down.

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