Raytheon, an RTX business, announced on November 3, 2026, that it has been awarded a phase one contract from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to develop an all-optical processing system under the PICASSO program.

Key Highlights

  • Contract award: Raytheon received a DARPA phase one contract for the Photonic Integrated Circuit Architectures for Scalable System Objectives (PICASSO) program.
  • Core technology: The contract calls for designing and demonstrating photonic circuit technology that uses light rather than electricity to process signals.
  • Key distinction: The all-optical approach eliminates the conversion step between optical and electrical signals, according to the filing, maintaining signal strength and integrity as circuits scale.
  • Industry partner: Raytheon is collaborating with Synopsys, which will provide design and simulation tools to support development.
  • Executive comment: Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon, stated the program "recognizes a fundamental shift in how processing can be achieved."
  • Parent company scale: RTX reported 2025 sales of more than $88 billion and employs more than 180,000 people globally, according to the filing.

Raytheon's All-Optical Processing Work Under DARPA's PICASSO Program

According to the filing, Raytheon's Advanced Technology team will design and demonstrate photonic circuit technology under the PICASSO program, with the stated aim of enabling operators to detect threats sooner, respond more quickly, and maintain better situational awareness in contested environments. The announcement was made on November 3, 2026, from Arlington, Virginia.

The filing explains that today's photonic circuits require converting optical signals back into electrical signals to refine and process data. The all-optical processing approach being developed for PICASSO removes that conversion step, which the filing states maintains signal strength and integrity even as circuits scale to smaller sizes and higher complexity. Raytheon described its intended contributions as building on experience in photonics process development, radio frequency design, and fielded military solutions.

The filing identifies commercial industry partner Synopsys as providing design and simulation tools to support the development effort. Colin Whelan, president of Advanced Technology at Raytheon, is quoted as saying, "By moving critical processing entirely into the optical domain, we can enable significantly faster response times for a broad range of applications." RTX trades on the NYSE under the symbol RTX.

What Was Disclosed

Raytheon disclosed receipt of a DARPA phase one contract to develop all-optical signal processing technology under the PICASSO program, with Synopsys named as a collaborating partner providing design and simulation tools.