NEW YORK, Oct 16 (Reuters) - An RTX unit on

Wednesday agreed to pay more than $280 million to resolve

criminal charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice

stemming from a long-running foreign bribery probe.

Lawyers for RTX's Raytheon subsidiary appeared before a

federal judge in Brooklyn after the company entered into a

deferred prosecution agreement, which runs for 3-1/2 years, to

resolve the charges.

The deal finalizes part of a series of settlements the

Arlington, Virginia-based company said it expected to enter into

with the Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange

Commission, for which it had set aside $959 million to cover.

The series of settlements would resolve long-running

investigations that have hung over the company, formerly known

as Raytheon Technologies, since 2019. The company merged with

United Technologies in 2020 and changed its name last year.

The foreign bribery investigations examined the extent to

which improper payments were made by Raytheon in connection with

contracts in Middle Eastern countries dating back to 2014, RTX

has said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Wiegel said that under the

terms of Raytheon's agreement, the company had agreed to pay a

criminal penalty of $252.3 million and forfeit $36.7 million,

though it would get a $7.4 million credit against an expected

related settlement with the SEC.

Raytheon was charged with conspiring to violate the Foreign

Corrupt Practices Act and conspiring to violate the Arms Export

Control Act.

Prosecutors have agreed to dismiss those charges after 3-1/2

years if it complies with the terms of the deferred prosecution

agreement. RTX has said it also expected to be required to

retain an independent compliance monitor.