Arlington, Va. – November 03, 2026 -- Raytheon, an RTX business (NYSE: RTX), has won a phase one contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop an all-optical processing system for the agency's Photonic Integrated Circuit Architectures for Scalable System Objectives (PICASSO) program. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Raytheon's Advanced Technology team will design photonic circuits that process signals with light, not electricity

Under the contract, the team will design and demonstrate photonic circuit technology that handles signal processing entirely in the optical domain. Raytheon says this lets operators detect threats sooner, respond faster and keep better situational awareness in contested environments.

Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon, called the program "a fundamental shift in how processing can be achieved." He said moving critical processing fully into the optical domain can enable significantly faster response times across a broad range of applications.

All-optical design removes the optical-to-electrical conversion step that limits current photonic circuits

Today's photonic circuits must convert optical signals back into electrical signals to refine and process data. Eliminating that step preserves signal strength and integrity, Raytheon says, even as circuits shrink dramatically in size and grow in complexity.

Synopsys will supply design and simulation tools for the phase one effort

Raytheon plans to draw on its photonics process development, radio frequency design knowledge and fielded military solutions to mature all-optical processing techniques. Commercial partner Synopsys will provide the design and simulation tools supporting development.