Raytheon Co. [RTNA] has won a contract to provide the Advanced Meteorological Imager for Japan’s MTSat 1R, a combined weather and air traffic control satellite for the Japanese Ministry of Transport.

Raytheon declined to estimate the value of the contract. The prime contractor is Space Systems / Loral [LOR].

The Advanced Meteorological Imager will be the latest generation of satellite meteorological technology, a Raytheon spokesman said. It will update data every 30 minutes for Japan, East Asia and Australia, measuring Earth radiation in four infrared bands and one visible wavelength to map cloud distribution, Earth surface temperature, cloud top temperature, water vapor distribution and wind field.

“We have been focusing our efforts toward reentering and winning a significant share of the operational meteorological satellite marketplace for more than three years,” said Arthur Napolitano, Raytheon’s director of space electro-optical programs. “The MTSat 1R win is a giant step for us toward reaching that goal.” The work will be done at Raytheon’s Santa Barbara Remote Sensing Organization in Goleta, Calif.