Raytheon Company  has signed an agreement with Surmet Corp., a pioneer and technical leader in the Advanced Materials field, that allows Surmet Corp. to develop Raytheon's aluminum oxynitride (ALON^(R)) manufacturing and process technologies. Surmet Corp. will initially focus on marketing ALON^(R) to the semiconductor equipment, lighting, bio-medical, bar code scanner, defense and homeland security industries.
    Raytheon developed ALON^(R), which has the physical appearance of glass but has phenomenal ballistic properties, as an alternative material for sapphire for missile seeker window applications.  ALON^(R) products possess excellent light transmission, impact resistance and structural stability over a wide range of temperatures.
    "ALON^(R) was developed as advanced military material and kept as a well guarded secret," said Timothy C. Davis, president and chief executive officer of Surmet Corp. "It has never before been produced, marketed and available for commercial applications. With material properties similar to sapphire but with far lower costs, ALON^(R)could be a replacement for many materials including
alumina, quartz as well as sapphire."
    "Using patented and proprietary plasma enhanced PVD and CVD processes, Surmet has developed advanced ceramic, metal and composite coatings that significantly improve the performance characteristics of many materials," said Dr. Suri Sastri, founder and chairman of Surmet Corp.  "ALON^(R) provides tremendous synergy for the technologies we have developed over the past 20 years.  We are very excited to be acquiring rights to commercialize ALON^(R) and working with Raytheon to commercialize this advanced material."
   "This strategic relationship is the latest example of how Raytheon's leading-edge defense technology can be utilized in commercial markets to create a long term competitive advantage for our partner," said Glenn Lenzen,
vice president of Raytheon's corporate Intellectual Property and Licensing department.  "Surmet will be able to utilize ALON^(R) in a variety of applications and industries that would significantly benefit from the
technical and cost characteristics."
    Raytheon's Intellectual Property and Licensing department teamed with Raytheon Commercial Ventures Inc. (RCVI) to form the new partnership with Surmet Corp. RCVI was established in February 2001 to create a
"commercialization engine" within Raytheon and since then Raytheon has spun technology into five companies where it has retained an equity interest.
    Surmet Corp., of Burlington, Mass., is an industry leader in surface metallurgy and engineered coatings.
    Based in Lexington, Mass., Raytheon Company is a global technology leader in defense, government and commercial electronics and business and special mission aircraft.

         
Source:Raytheon Company