Raytheon expects to deliver the first Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminals (FAB-T) to the Air Force to start airborne testing “within the next month,” Scott Whatmough, company vice president of integrated communications, told Air Force Magazine. “We’ve got two terminals that we’re ready to deliver to the customer, one that will go on an aircraft, one that will be the ground terminal that will talk to it, so that will be started within the next month,” he said, noting the program is currently undergoing environmental testing. Raytheon last monthy won the Air Force’s FAB-T contract away from Boeing, after the stalled delivery of the system led the Air Force to re-open the contract. Whatmough said that Raytheon, which worked on the program under Boeing, never stopped working to develop the technology in the hope the Air Force would decide in their favor. “We have our target hardware built in the factory final design, so that is what enabled us to have the confidence that we could offer an attractive, affordable price,” he said.
RTX, parent of Raytheon, Collins and Pratt & Whitney, is getting out of the space prime business and focusing on its "strengths" as a maker of space sensors, buses, and components, company COO Chris Calio said during an earnings call.