The Raytheon Company is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007. Raytheon is the world's largest producer of guided missiles.

Established in 1922, the company reincorporated in 1928 and adopted its present name in 1959. The company has around 63,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of approximately US$25 billion. More than 90% of Raytheon's revenues were obtained from military contracts and, as of 2012, it was the fifth-largest military contractor in the world. As of 2015, it is the third largest defense contractor in the United States by defense revenue.

Raytheon's headquarters moved from Lexington, Massachusetts, to Waltham, Massachusetts, in 2003. The company was previously headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, from 1922 to 1928, Newton, Massachusetts, from 1928 to 1941, Waltham from 1941 to 1961, Lexington from 1961 to 2003, and back to Waltham from 2003 onwards.

In 1922, two former Tufts engineering college roommates Laurence K. Marshall and Vannevar Bush, along with scientist Charles G. Smith, founded the American Appliance Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Its focus, which was originally on new refrigeration technology, soon shifted to electronics. The company's first product was a gaseous (helium) rectifier that was based on Charles Smith's earlier astronomical research of the star Zeta Puppis. The electron tube was christened with the name Raytheon ("light of/from the gods") and was used in a battery eliminator, a type of radio-receiver power supply that plugged into the power grid in place of large batteries. This made it possible to convert household alternating current to direct current for radios and thus eliminate the need for expensive, short-lived batteries.

In 1925, the company changed its name to Raytheon Manufacturing Company and began marketing its rectifier, under the Raytheon brand name, with great commercial success. In 1928 Raytheon merged with Q.R.S. Company, an American manufacturer of electron tubes and switches, to form the successor of the same name, Raytheon Manufacturing Company. In 1933 it diversified by acquiring Acme-Delta Company, a producer of transformers, power equipment, and electronic auto parts. By the 1930s, it had already grown to become one of the world's largest vacuum tube manufacturing companies.

Early in World War II, physicists in the United Kingdom invented the magnetron, a specialized microwave-generating electron tube that markedly improved the capability of radar to detect enemy aircraft. American companies were then sought by the US government to perfect and mass-produce the magnetron for ground-based, airborne, and shipborne radar systems, and, with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Radiation Laboratory (recently formed to investigate microwave radar), Raytheon received a contract to build the devices. Within a few months of being awarded the contract, Raytheon had already begun to mass manufacture magnetron tubes for use in radar sets and then complete radar systems. At war's end in 1945 the company was responsible for about 80 percent of all magnetrons manufactured. During the war Raytheon also pioneered the production of shipboard radar systems, particularly for submarine detection. Raytheon ranked 71st among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.

Raytheon's research on the magnetron tube revealed the potential of microwaves to cook food. In 1945, Raytheon's Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven by discovering that the magnetron could rapidly heat food. In 1947, the company demonstrated the Radarange microwave oven for commercial use.

In 1945, the company expanded its electronics capability through acquisitions that included the Submarine Signal Company (founded in 1901), a leading manufacturer of maritime safety equipment. With its broadened capabilities, Raytheon developed the first guidance system for a missile that could intercept a flying target. In 1948, Raytheon began to manufacture guided missiles. In 1950, its Lark missile became the first such weapon to destroy a target aircraft in flight. Raytheon then received military contracts to develop the air-to-air Sparrow and ground-to-air Hawk missiles—projects that received impetus from the Korean War. In later decades, it remained a major producer of missiles, among them the Patriot antimissile missile and the air-to-air Phoenix missile. In 1959, Raytheon acquired the marine electronics company Apelco Applied Electronics, which significantly increased its strength in commercial marine navigation and radio gear, as well as less-expensive Japanese suppliers of products such as marine/weather band radios and direction-finding gear. In the same year, it changed its name to Raytheon Company.

During the post-war years, Raytheon also made generally low- to medium-powered radio and television transmitters and related equipment for the commercial market, but the high-powered market was solidly in the hands of larger, better financed competitors such as Continental Electronics, General Electric and Radio Corporation of America.

In the 1950s, Raytheon began manufacturing transistors, including the CK722, priced and marketed to hobbyists.

In 1961, the British electronics company A.C. Cossor merged with Raytheon, following its sale by Philips. The new Company's name was Raytheon Cossor. The Cossor side of the organisation is still current in the Raytheon group As of 2010.

In 1965, it acquired Amana Refrigeration, Inc., a manufacturer of refrigerators and air conditioners. Using the Amana brand name and its distribution channels, Raytheon began selling the first countertop household microwave oven in 1967 and became a dominant manufacturer in the microwave oven business.

In 1966, the company entered the educational publishing business with the acquisition of D.C. Heath and Company, marketing an influential physics textbook developed by the Physical Science Study Committee.

In 1980, Raytheon acquired Beech Aircraft Corporation, a leading manufacturer of general aviation aircraft founded in 1932 by Walter H. Beech. In 1993 the company expanded its aircraft activities by adding the Hawker line of business jets by acquiring Corporate Jets Inc., the business jet product line of British Aerospace (now BAE Systems). These two entities were merged in 1994 to become the Raytheon Aircraft Company. In the first quarter of 2007 Raytheon sold its aircraft operations, which subsequently operated as Hawker Beechcraft, and since 2014 have been units of Textron Aviation. The product line of Raytheon's aircraft subsidiary included business jets such as the Hawker 800XP and Hawker 4000, the Beechjet 400A, and the Premier I; the popular King Air series of twin turboprops; and piston-engine aircraft such as the Bonanza. Its special-mission aircraft included the single-turboprop T-6A Texan II, which the United States Air Force and United States Navy had chosen as their primary training aircraft.

In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, Raytheon's Patriot missile received great international exposure, resulting in a substantial increase in sales for the company outside the United States. In an effort to establish leadership in the defense electronics business, Raytheon purchased in quick succession Dallas-based E-Systems (1995), Chrysler Corporation's defense electronics and aircraft-modification businesses, which had previously acquired companies such as Electrospace systems (1996) (portions of these businesses were later sold to L-3 Communications), and the defense unit of Texas Instruments—Defense Systems & Electronics Group (1997). Also in 1997, Raytheon acquired the aerospace and defense business of Hughes Aircraft Company from Hughes Electronics Corporation—a subsidiary of General Motors, which included a number of product lines previously purchased by Hughes Electronics including the former General Dynamics missile business (Pomona facility), the defense portion of Delco Electronics (Delco Systems Operations), and Magnavox Electronic Systems.

Raytheon also divested itself of several nondefense businesses in the 1990s, including Amana Refrigeration and Seismograph Service Ltd (sold to Schlumberger-Geco-Prakla). On October 12, 1999 Raytheon exited the personal rapid transit (PRT) business as it terminated its PRT 2000 system due to high-cost of development and lack of interest.

In November 2007, Raytheon purchased Sarcos for an undisclosed sum, seeking to expand into robotics research and production.

In September 2009, Raytheon entered into an agreement to acquire BBN Technologies. The acquisition was completed on October 29, 2009.

In December 2010, Applied Signal Technology agreed to be acquired by Raytheon for $490 million.

In October 2014, Raytheon beat rivals Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman for a contract to build 3DELRR, a next-generation long-range radar system, for the US Air Force worth an estimated $1 billion.

This contract award was immediately protested by Raytheon's competitors, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. After re-evaluating the bids following these protests, the US Air Force has decided to delay awarding the 3DELRR EMD contract until 2017, and will issue an amended solicitation at the end of July 2016.

In July 2016, Poland's Defence Minister Antoni Macierewicz planned to sign a letter of intent with Raytheon for a $5.6 billion deal to upgrade its Patriot missile-defence shield.

Raytheon is composed of five major business divisions:

Raytheon’s businesses are supported by several dedicated international operations including: Raytheon Australia; Raytheon Canada Limited; operations in Japan; Raytheon Microelectronics in Spain; Raytheon UK (formerly Raytheon Systems Limited); and ThalesRaytheonSystems, France.

In recent years, Raytheon has expanded into other fields while redefining some of its core business activities. Raytheon has identified five key 'Strategic Business Areas' where it is focusing its expertise and resources:

On March 31, 2014, Thomas Kennedy was named CEO & Global Head of Quality Assurance of Raytheon Company. Dr. Kennedy succeeds William H. Swanson, who has served as the Chief Executive Officer of Raytheon Company since 2003, and who advised the Board of his intention to step down from his position as Chief Executive Officer. William H. Swanson remains as Chairman and Thomas A. Kennedy continues to sit on the Board. Other members of the board of directors of Raytheon are: Vernon Clark, James E. Cartwright, John Deutch, Stephen J. Hadley, George R. Oliver, Frederic Poses, Michael Ruettgers, Ronald Skates, William Spivey, and Linda Stuntz.

In addition to its US domestic facilities, Raytheon has offices in countries worldwide, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Czech Republic, Egypt, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kuwait, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Norway, Republic of Korea, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.

As of December 2014, according to filed reports, the top ten institutional shareholders of Raytheon are Wellington Management Company, Vanguard Group, State Street Corporation, Barrow, Hanley, Mewhinney & Strauss, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company, BlackRock Advisors, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon, Deutsche Bank and Macquarie Group.

Raytheon provides electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems; as well as a broad range of mission support services. View an alphabetical listing of Raytheon's major products and services.See Raytheon products for products manufactured and sold by Raytheon Company

Raytheon's electronics and defense-systems units produce air-, sea-, and land-launched missiles, aircraft radar systems, weapons sights and targeting systems, communication and battle-management systems, and satellite components.

Raytheon is a developer and manufacturer of radars (including AESAs), electro-optical sensors, and other advanced electronics systems for airborne, naval and ground based military applications. Examples include:

Raytheon, often in conjunction with Boeing, Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman, is also heavily involved in the satellite sensor business. Much of its Space and Airborne Systems division in El Segundo, CA is devoted to this, a business it inherited from Hughes. Examples of programs include:

As part of the company's growing homeland security business and strategic focus, Raytheon has teamed with other contractors to develop an Advance Spectroscopic Portal (ASP) to allow border officials to view and identify radioactive materials in vehicles and shipping containers more effectively.

Raytheon also manufactures semiconductors for the electronics industry in sites in the US and UK. In the late 20th century it produced a wide range of integrated circuits and other components, but as of 2003 its US semiconductor business specializes in gallium arsenide (GaAs) components for radio communications as well as infrared detectors. It is also making efforts to develop gallium nitride (GaN) components for next-generation radars and radios. The UK arm specialized in CMOS on silicon carbide (SiC) development and foundry work but is no longer taking on new orders, having been on the premises for 57 years.

In the framework of Ground-Based Midcourse Defense, Raytheon is developing a Ground Based Interceptor (GBI) that includes a booster missile and a kinetic Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), along with several key radar components, such as the Sea-Based X-Band Radar (SBX) and the Upgraded Early Warning Radar (UEWR).

Raytheon is a developer of missiles and related missile defense systems. These include:

In a jointly managed project with Hughes Aircraft Co., Raytheon developed the Air Warfare Simulation (AWSIM2), currently used by the USAF for battle staff training at simulation centers worldwide.

Raytheon also produces and runs the ABACUS (Advanced BAttlespace CompUter Simulation) or Higher Formation Trainer (HFT) for training HQs from small specialist units up to corps level.

Raytheon Professional Services (RPS) is a global leader in training services and learning outsourcing for over 75 years. Clients are offered training tailored to their needs. The scope of each contract can vary from short-term training initiatives and projects to multi-year outsourcing engagements for some or all of a client’s training function. Services include: (1) Performance Consulting & Learning Strategy Development, (2) Training Design, Development & Delivery, (3) Learning Technologies and (4)Training Administration

Raytheon SixSigma

Raytheon Six Sigma is the company's disciplined, knowledge-based approach designed to increase productivity, grow the business, enhance customer satisfaction and build a customer culture that embraces all of these goals. Daniel Burnham brought Six Sigma to Raytheon from AlliedSignal in 1998. This internal service provides six steps that guide projects to completion, the six steps being: visualize, commit, prioritize, characterize, improve, and achieve. Raytheon mentions in its annual reports the benefits it has enjoyed through SixSigma. It has gained USD $3.8 billion in financial benefit and has set a common language and culture across the company.

As the vast majority of Raytheon's revenues have been obtained from defense contracts, there has been a tight relationship of cooperation between itself and the U.S. Department of Defense and other U.S. government departments and agencies (e.g. in the Fiscal Year 2007 the National Science Foundation awarded Raytheon $152 million in grants, more than to any other institution and organization in the country, for managing NSF South Pole Station). This, along with heavy lobbying, has led to perennial charges of influence peddling. Raytheon, for instance, contributed nearly a million dollars to various defense-related political campaigns in the presidential election year of 2004, spending much more than that on lobbying expenses. And there are many tight ties between the company and all levels of government. For example, Richard Armitage, a former United States Deputy Secretary of State, is linked to the company through consultancy work. John M. Deutch, a former U.S. Director of Central Intelligence, sits on the board of directors, along with Warren Rudman, a former Senator. On the other hand, Raytheon has also been involved in several contract disputes with the U.S. Government.

In March 1990, Raytheon pleaded guilty to one felony count of illegally obtaining classified Air Force budget and planning documents. U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan, Jr. imposed a $10,000 criminal fine for one felony count of "conveyance without authority" and $900,000 in civil penalties and damages. The documents allegedly gave Raytheon an unfair advantage against its competitors in bidding for weapons contracts. Although the plea only involved 1983 Air Force documents, United States Attorney Henry Hudson said Raytheon also illegally obtained a wide range of secret Pentagon documents.

During the 1991 Gulf War, Raytheon received widespread publicity in the United States in connection with its manufacture of the Patriot missile (MIM-104 Patriot). The Patriot missile is an anti-aircraft missile that was upgraded to have some capability against ballistic missiles. The Patriot had allegedly intercepted Scud missiles launched by Iraq in its defense against the U.S.-led invasion. When President George H. W. Bush traveled to Raytheon's Patriot manufacturing plant in Andover, Massachusetts, during the Gulf War, he declared, the "Patriot is 41 for 42: 42 Scuds engaged, 41 intercepted!" After the Gulf War had concluded, the staff of the House Government Operations Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security reported,

In October 1994, Raytheon paid $4 million to settle a U.S. government claim that it inflated a defense contract for antimissile radar. The PAVE PAWS (Precision Acquisition Vehicle Entry Phased Array Warning System) system was designed to detect incoming submarine-launched ballistic missiles. The government claimed in a federal lawsuit that Raytheon inflated a contract to upgrade two of four PAVE PAWS sites by proposing to hire higher-skilled employees than were necessary for the job.

Just one year earlier, on October 14, 1993, Raytheon paid $3.7 million to settle allegations that it misled the United States Department of Defense by overstating the labor costs involved in manufacturing Patriot missiles. "The recovery of this money is yet another warning to contractors that the Truth in Negotiations Act's information disclosure requirements will be strictly and sternly enforced," Frank Hunger, assistant attorney general, said in a statement.

Allegations of bribery were made against Raytheon in 1995 in connection with its efforts to win a 1.4 billion dollar radar contract from Brazil for the SIVAM project. SIVAM, the acronym for "System for Vigilance over the Amazon," was a complex radar surveillance system for use in monitoring the Amazon rainforest, allegedly to curb the trafficking of narcotics and to curb illegal logging or burning of the forest. Brazilian police wiretapped a telephone conversation between a special advisor to the Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, and Raytheon's operative in Brazil, Jose Afonso Assumpcão. According to transcripts published in the Brazilian national weekly Isto É, when Assumpcão told Gomes dos Santos that Brazilian Senator Gilberto Miranda might block the Raytheon contract, Gomes dos Santos responded, "Damn, did you already pay this guy?". Gomes dos Santos and Brazil's aviation minister resigned because of allegations that this conversation suggested that bribes were paid. Nonetheless, Raytheon ultimately was awarded the contract after lobbying by the administration of U.S. President Bill Clinton.

In 1996, a corporation called AGES Group filed a lawsuit against Raytheon in a federal court in Alabama over a $450 million contract to service C-12 Huron and U-21 military aircraft. The Boston Herald reported that AGES alleged that the security firm Wackenhut Corporation, hired by Raytheon, used video and audio surveillance to spy on a consulting firm hired by AGES to help it prepare its bid. AGES also alleged that stolen confidential pricing documents were turned over to Raytheon. Both Raytheon and AGES had been vying for the contract, which Raytheon had held for decades but AGES won in 1996. On May 12, 1999, Reuters reported that Raytheon would pay $3 million to AGES Group and purchase $13 million worth of AGES aircraft parts to settle the AGES lawsuit. The settlement was exceptional in that the parties agreed that judgment would be entered against Raytheon, legally establishing the validity of AGES' allegations.

In October 1999, Raytheon was the subject of a number of securities class action lawsuits alleging it had issued a series of materially false and misleading statements including overstating the company's 1997 and 1998 revenues, concealing cost overruns and inflating its financial results. The suits were brought in response to a massive drop in value of Raytheon's common stock as traded on the New York Stock Exchange. On Tuesday, October 12, 1999, Raytheon shares traded at about 45% below their level on October 11, 1999. The plunge in stock prices was triggered by a Wall Street Journal report that Raytheon was over cost or behind schedule on more than a dozen fixed-price defense contracts. This crash represented a loss of about $8 billion in market value in a single day. On May 13, 2004 Raytheon reported that it had reached a preliminary agreement to pay $410 million in cash and securities to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging it misled investors by not disclosing difficulties on various Pentagon and construction projects five years before.

On April 24, 2006 in a statement released by Raytheon, CEO Swanson admitted to plagiarism in claiming authorship for his booklet, "Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management," after a report by The New York Times. On May 2, 2006, Raytheon withdrew distribution of the book. The following day, the company's board of directors announced that "In response to this matter, the Board has decided not to raise Mr. Swanson's salary above its 2005 level, and will reduce the amount of restricted stock for which he is eligible in the coming year by 20 percent."

In August 2010, Raytheon announced that it had partnered with a jail in Castaic, California to use prisoners as test subjects for the new non-lethal Silent Guardian active denial system that "[...] penetrates about a 64th of an inch under your skin. That's about where your pain receptacles are. So it's what it would feel like if you just opened up the doors of a blast furnace."

In 2010 Raytheon developed an "extreme-scale analytics" system named Rapid Information Overlay Technology (RIOT), which allows the user to track people's movements and even predict their behaviour by mining data from social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Gowalla, and Foursquare. Raytheon claims that it has not sold this software to any clients, but has shared it with US government and industry. A company spokesperson told PC magazine in 2013 that "Raytheon, as a leader in cybersecurity, offers advanced capabilities to government customers. We're focused on providing them the best available solutions that meet their constantly evolving requirements."

Raytheon has patented a number of weapon designs which allow for the use of depleted uranium. For instance there is the patent "Missile warhead design" (1997) which suggests the use of tungsten but adds that "In addition, other ballast sizes and other materials such as lead or depleted uranium may be used without departing from the scope of the present invention". There is also the patent "Guided kinetic penetrator" (2005) which patents "9. The projectile guidance system of claim 1, wherein the kinetic penetrator body comprises at least one of tungsten, carbide steel, and depleted uranium". The patent "Improved missile warhead design" (1998) which patents "2. The invention of Claim 1 wherein the ballast mechanism (16) includes tungsten, lead and/or depleted uranium material(s)", the "Cluster explosively-formed penetrator warheads" patent (2011) which patents "The spherically-shaped explosive device of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of liners comprises a material selected from a group consisting of copper, molybdenum, tungsten, aluminum, tantalum, depleted uranium, lead, tin, cadmium, cobalt, magnesium, titanium, zinc, zirconium, beryllium, nickel, silver, and combinations thereof", and the "Low-collateral damage directed fragmentation munition" patent (2014) which uses a tungsten or uranium ring ("The ring 44 may be made of tungsten or depleted uranium, to give non-limiting examples") to direct the energy of the weapon.

Two lawsuits were filed against a Raytheon Company plant in St. Petersburg, Florida, due to concern with health risks, property values, and contamination in April 2008. Raytheon was given until the end of the month to independently test whether or not the groundwater that originated from its area was contaminated. According to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the groundwater contained carcinogenic contaminants, including trichloroethylene, 1,4-dioxane, and vinyl chloride. The DEP also reported that the clouds contained other toxins, such as lead and toluene.

In 1995, Raytheon acquired Dallas-based E-Systems, including a site in St. Petersburg, Florida. In November 1991, prior to Raytheon's acquisition, contamination had been discovered at the E-Systems site. Soil and groundwater had been contaminated with the volatile organic compounds trichloroethylene and 1,4-Dioxane. In 2005, groundwater monitoring indicated polluted groundwater was moving into areas outside the site. According to DEP documentation, Raytheon has tested wells on its site since 1996 but had not delivered a final report; therefore, it was given a deadline on May 31, 2008 to investigate its groundwater. Contamination in the area has not affected anyone's drinking water supply or health, yet due to negative local media coverage lawsuits are being filed with claims against Raytheon citing decreases in property values.

In another case, Raytheon was ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to treat groundwater at the Tucson Plant (acquired during the merger with Hughes) in Arizona since Raytheon used and disposed metals, chlorinated solvents, and other substances at the plant since 1951. The EPA further required the installation and operation of an oxidation process system to treat the solvents and make the water safe to drink.

On 9 August 2006, The Stream Contact Centre in Derry, Northern Ireland, which had a contract with Raytheon at the time, was attacked by protesters. They destroyed the computers, documents, and mainframe of the office, and proceeded to occupy it for eight hours prior to their arrest.

The activists were charged with criminal damage and affray. The trial of six of the accused began May 19, 2008, in the Laganside Courts in Belfast. Colm Bryce, Gary Donnelly, Kieran Gallagher, Michael Gallagher, Sean Heaton, Jimmy Kelly, Paddy McDaid and Eamonn O'Donnell were acquitted of all charges on 11 June, with Eamonn McCann found guilty of the theft of two computer discs.[7]

Coordinates: 42°24′20.1″N 71°16′57.8″W / 42.405583°N 71.282722°W / 42.405583; -71.282722