Raytheon Company Profile

US defence firm Raytheon is one of the biggest arms companies in the world. It is a major supplier to the US Defence Department, the UK Ministry of Defence and other states’ armed forces. Its guided missiles, guns, and other weapons have been used in conflicts around the world.

You can find our 2002 Company Profile below.

Click here for details of Raytheon’s latest profits and other financial results from the Bloomberg website.

There is also lots of useful information on Raytheon’s website:

  • Click here to find out where the company is doing business.

  • Click here for a full list of the arms, ‘electronic warfare’ products, and services currently offered by Raytheon.

  • Click here to find out who’s on Raytheon’s board of directors.

  • Click here to download Raytheon’s latest annual report and accounts.

For a more critical perspective on Raytheon’s work try the Campaign Against Arms Trade and Bristol Against the Arms Trade websites.

If you want to do some digging into Raytheon yourself, have a look at our Investigating Companies: A Do-It-Yourself Handbook.

If you would like your website added to this list, or have any other links or suggestions for this page, please get in touch.

Raytheon: Overview

‘Raytheon: Aspiring to be the most admired defense and aerospace systems supplier through world-class people and technology.'[1]

 

1.1 Industry Area

 

Raytheon produces military and commercial electronic systems and business and special mission aircraft. The company’s 2001 revenues came from electronic systems (46%); command, control, communication and information systems (21%); aircraft (14%); technical services (11%); aircraft integration systems (6%); commercial electronics (2%).[2]

1.2 Market Share / Importance:

 

Raytheon is the 4th largest US defence contractor, after Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman.[3] The company is often labelled as America’s third largest aerospace company. Raytheon is ranked no. 119 in the 2002 FORTUNE 500 list of America’s largest corporations.[4] The company is the world’s largest missile-maker.[5]

Raytheon claims to be ‘a global leader in defence and government electronics, business and special mission aviation[6], as well as in areas of weapons manufacture such as air-air missile systems.'[7] In 2000, the company employed 87,200 employees worldwide and had revenues equalling $16.9 billion.

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1.3 History

 

The Beginning The American Appliance Company was started up in 1922 to make artificially cooled radiators. This was a commercial failure however and instead the company moved into making radio tubes under the brand name Raytheon. By 1925 it had also changed its company name to Raytheon, literally, ‘light of the gods’.[8] The company remained in the growing radio tube market until the onset of the Second World War. At this time the company expanded its operations, becoming the leading western manufacturer of radar systems and establishing the field of missile guidance systems.[9] After the war Raytheon kept up its close association with the military into the 60’s.

Expansion and Diversification In the mid-60’s 83% of Raytheon’s business came from the US government.[10] Deciding to diversify, the company established an aircraft division, an energy services division and an appliances division among others. In 1967 Raytheon produced the first reliable countertop microwave oven and it also manufactured the first electronic depth sounder. Due to its diversification by 1990 the US government accounted for only half of Raytheon’s sales. (However, according to Hoover’s Online Business Information, the US government currently accounts for about 70% of sales).[11]

In 1967 Raytheon was awarded the contract to develop the US armies surface to air missile. Nine years later the ‘Patriot’ entered full-scale production9. In the 1980’s Congress almost cancelled funding due to its high cost ($1.1 million a missile) and because it was thought to be inaccurate against the latest soviet missiles such as the SS-20[12]. (1/10 the size and 10 times as fast as Iraqi scuds). It was not until the Gulf War in 1991 that patriots were first used in combat, without much success (see Corporate Crimes). In February 1991 George Bush travelled to Raytheon’s Andover plant in Massachusetts to thank his ‘friend’, retiring chairman Tom Phillips for building what he called the ‘scud busters’[13]

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Recent History Raytheon streamlined in the 1990’s, getting rid of its publishing, laundry and home appliances sectors amongst others. In 2000 it also sold its large construction subsidiary. It acquired a number of businesses in the defence and electronics industry, culminating in the 1997 merger with Hughes Electronics, a $9.5 billion transaction. President Bush’s plans to step up national security spending boosted Raytheon’s profits.[14]

However, Raytheon has suffered a number of setbacks in recent years. Funding for the Space-Based Infrared System Low (SBIRS-Low), a satellite surveillance and targeting system that Raytheon has worked on with TRW (TRW is a company that provides the defence industry with technology and services), has been held up by Congress due to repeated cost overruns and schedule slippages and funding has also been scaled back for Raytheon’s Joint Standoff Weapon system (JSOW), a precision-guided “glider” bomb designed to hit targets from as far as 40 miles away. Also, in late 2001, the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced that it was cancelling the $9 billion Navy Area Defense (NAD) program, a short-range missile defence system that was to use interceptors based on the Raytheon standard missile. However, this did come with a $300 million contract termination fee paid by the US taxpayer and split between Raytheon and the other 3 top contractors on the project.

War profits These setbacks for the company have been more than compensated for by the overall rise in Raytheon’s business since September 11th, including a 26% rise in stock prices. In early 2002, the firm also received a $1.2 billion multi-year contract to provide over 200 T-6A “Texan” training aircraft to the Air Force and Navy. This was despite criticisms just six weeks earlier by the Pentagon’s Office of Independent Testing and Evaluation that there were serious performance problems in the T-6A program.[15]

The expansion of NATO to countries like Poland, Hungary and the Czech republic is also good news for the company. New members are required to spend at least 3% of their budget on NATO compatible military spending. This will inevitably result in contracts for the big arms companies and Raytheon is poised to receive a sizable chunk of the estimated $35 billion[16] that will have been spent between 1998 and 2008.[17]

Raytheon’s official history can be found at http://www.raytheon.com/about/history.htm, where their World War II radars are credited as ‘making the Germans feel for the first time like the hunted not the hunters’; their microwaves ‘ put women on the way to avoiding laborious house chores’ and the Patriot missile is credited with ‘changing the course of the [Gulf] War’!10

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1.4 Products

Raytheon produces a huge range of products and services, including many well-known products such as Cruise, Patriot and Sidewinder missiles. In addition, Raytheon produces the world’s leading cruise missile, the Tomahawk. The US Navy describes the Tomahawk (which has a price tag of $500,000[18]) as their ‘weapon of choice’.[19] Raytheon also produces the AIM-65 Maverick, an air-to-surface missile that the company describes as ‘the most widely used precision guided munition in the free world. . . integrated on virtually every fighter aircraft in the free world’.[20]

For a full list of Raytheon’s products see their web page: http://www.raytheon.com/products

Online Sales To take advantage of the opportunities opened up by the Internet, Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and BAE Systems agreed to form an online exchange for sales totalling billions of pounds a year. Everything from aircraft and weapons to data services is available on the new exchange.[21]

References:

[1] ‘About Raytheon’, Raytheon home page: http://www.raytheon.com/about/index.htm accessed 16 April 2002

[2] Raytheon News Release, 23 January 2002: http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=149999&TICK=RTN&STORY=/www/story/01-23-2002/0001654074&EDATE=Jan+23,+2002 (source: PRNewswire), accessed 16 April 2002

[3] Raytheon Profile, Hoover’s Online Business Information: http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/1/0,2163,11261,00.html accessed 16 April 2002

[4] 2002 FORTUNE 500, http://www.fortune.com/lists/F500/index.html accessed 16 April 2002

[5] ‘European missile giant formed’, BBC News, 27 April 2001, BBC web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1238000/1238846.stm accessed 17 April 2002

[6] Raytheon home page: http://www.raytheon.com/about/index.htm accessed 16 April 2002

[7] Press Archive EADS, European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company web-site: http://www.eads.net/eads/en/index.htm?/xml/intl/press/archiv/foundingpartners/casa2000/20000jun_1.xml&press accessed 16 April 2002

[8] Company website: www.raytheon.com/about/early.htm accessed 16 April 2002

[9] Corporate Profile: ‘The Patriots by Raytheon’, by Jim Donahue, web-site: www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/issues/1991/03/mm0391_10.html accessed 16 April 2002

[10] Ibid

[11] Brief company overview, by Hoover’s Online Business Information, web-site: http://www.hoovers.com/co/capsule/1/0,2163,11261,00.html accessed 16 April 2002

9 Company website: www.raytheon.com/about/tech.htm accessed 16 April 2002

[12] Corporate Profile: ‘The Patriots by Raytheon’, by Jim Donahue, web-site: http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/issues/1991/03/mm0391_10.html accessed 16 April 2002

[13] Ibid

[14] ‘European missile giant formed’, BBC News, 27 April 2001, BBC web site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1238000/1238846.stm accessed 17 April 2002

[15] ‘Raytheon Profile’, Reviewing Nuclear Proliferation, Reaching Critical Will web-site: www.reachingcriticalwill.org/dd/ray.html accessed 17 April 2002

[16] William D. Hartung (May, 1998), NATO Boondoggle, The Progressive

[17] ‘Future of a Delusion’, The Progressive Comment, The Progressive Magazine, at: http://www.progressive.org/comment9906.htm accessed 17 April 2002

10 Company website, www.raytheon.com/about/history.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[18] ‘Cruise Missiles “Made in Brazil”‘, BBC News, 4 September 2001, BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_1525000/1525374.stm accessed 17 April 2002

[19]’United States Tomahawkä Cruise Missile Program’, Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation, web-site: www.strikenet.js.mil/pao/tomhis.doc accessed 17 April 2002

[20] Raytheon web-site: http://www.raytheon.com/es/esproducts/dssmav/dssmav.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[21] Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/business/newsid_694000/694049.stm (‘Aerospace industry reaps internet benefits’, BBC News, 28 March 2000)

Raytheon: Who, Where, How Much?

2.1 Company headquarters

 

Raytheon Company

141 Spring Street

Lexington

Massachusetts

02421

USA

Tel: (001)781 862 6600

www.raytheon.com

2.2 The headquarters of their UK subsidiary is:

 

Raytheon Systems Limited

80 Park Lane

London

W1K 7TR

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)20 7569 5500

Fax: +44 (0)20 7569 5591

Web: www.raytheon.co.uk

Other Raytheon offices in the UK include:

Bedford

Raytheon Systems Limited

Unit H

Bedford Business Centre

Mile Road

Bedford

MK42 9TW

Tel: +44 (0)1234 242500

Fax: +44 (0)1234 242501

Bristol

Raytheon Systems Limited

Argentum House

Building 510

Bristol Business Park

Coldharbour Lane

Bristol

BS16 1EJ

Tel: +44 (0)117 906 3544

Broughton

Raytheon Aircraft Services Limited and

Raytheon Systems Limited

Hawarden Airport

Broughton

North Wales

CH4 0BA

United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)1244 523888

Fax: +44 (0)1244 523513

Glenrothes

Raytheon Systems Limited

Queensway Industrial Estate

Glenrothes

Fife

KY7 5PY

Scotland

Tel: 01592 754311

Fax: 01592 759775

Harlow

Raytheon Systems Limited

The Pinnacles

Harlow

Essex

CM19 5BB

Tel: +44 (0)1279 426862

Fax: +44 (0)1279 410413

Londonderry

Raytheon Systems Limited

Peninsula Court

Ulster Science & Technology Park

Buncrana Road

Londonderry

BT48 0SL

Northern Ireland

Tel: +44 (0)28 7130 4000

Fax: +44 (0)28 7130 4100

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2.3 Wholly owned subsidiaries worldwide[22]:

 

 

  • ELCAN Optical Technologies (ELCAN) [Spain]
  • Raytheon Microelectronics España, S.A. [Spain]
  • Raytheon Systems Canada Ltd [Canada]
  • Raytheon Systems Company Australia [Australia]
  • Raytheon Systems Limited [UK]
  • Raytheon International, Inc. [Focused on expanding Raytheon’s international business, Raytheon International, Inc. maintains business development offices in more than 25 countries]

Joint Ventures:

  • Raytheon Company and Thales Airsys – consortium to provide the Swiss Defence Procurement Agency with FLORAKO air defence system.
  • Air Command Systems International (ACSI) – Raytheon and Thomson-CSF consortium to provide Air Command and Control System Level of Capability 1 (ACCS LOC1) to NATO.
  • Raytheon and Thales – new joint venture encompassing air defence/command and control centres and ground-based air surveillance and weapons-locating radars. Awaiting US and French regulatory approval as of early 2001.

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2.4 Structure/Ownership

 

Raytheon is a publicly owned company, which sells its products across the world. It has 87,200 employees and sales in 2001 totaled $16.9 billion[24], equal to that of 2000 and down $0.3 billion from 1999[25]. Rest assured after September the 11th the company won’t be struggling for contracts.

Raytheon has recently been reorganised into 6 business units:

  • electronics systems;
  • command, control, communication and integration systems;
  • technical services company;
  • aircraft integration systems;
  • commercial electronics;
  • Raytheon Aircraft Company
  • Raytheon has a major UK subsidiary, Raytheon Systems Ltd. (see section on Subsidiaries)

Raytheon has 2.1 million shares. They combined two sets of pre-existing shares into one in May last year and there were four shareholders who owned more than 5% of either class of these shares. They were:

  • Franklin Resources, Inc., Charles B. Johnson, Rupert H. Johnson, Jr. and Templeton Global Advisors Limited: 11.4% Class A shares
  • Capital Group International, Inc.: 10.9% Class A shares
  • Capital Research and Management Company: 8.9% Class A shares
  • Brandes Investment Partners, L.P.: 7.1 % Class B shares
  • Raytheon shareholder information:

http://investor.raytheon.com/shareholder.cfm (Source: Raytheon Company)

Raytheon stock performance:

http://investor.raytheon.com/index3.cfm (Source: Raytheon Company)

2.5 Auditor

 

Raytheon paid PriceWaterhouseCoopers $51 million in 2000, though only 3 million of that was directly for audit fees. A further $23 million was for ‘Financial Information Systems’, $3 million for Internal Audit Services, $7 million for tax advice and tax return assistance and $6 million for foreign statutory audits and carve-out audits in support of divestitures. The remaining $9 million comes under the bracket ‘All Other Fees.’[44]

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2.6 Board of Directors

Daniel P. Burnham
Chairman and CEO

Burnham joined Raytheon on 1st July 1998 from AlliedSignal Inc. where he most recently served as vice chairman and a member of the board of directors. Prior to joining AlliedSignal Inc. Burnham held positions within The Carborudum Company from 1971 to 1982.

He is chairman of the President’s National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee (NSTAC), a member of the Defence Policy Advisory Committee on Trade (DPACT), a trustee for Xavier University, member of the Business Council and a member of the Fleet Boston Financial Corporation Board of Directors.[26]

Robin L. Beard
Executive Vice President, Business Development, Chief Executive Officer, Raytheon International, Inc.

Prior to his current post he was president of Raytheon International Europe. He served as chairman of Hughes Europe and vice-president of Hughes Electronics Corporation, which he joined in October 1995. Prior to that he served two terms (1984-1987, 1992-1995) as Assistant Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). He chaired a number of high-level bodies, most notably the Conference of National Armaments Directors, which is the supreme NATO body responsible for all defence equipment matters. For his NATO efforts he received the U.S. Department of Defence’s highest award for distinguished service from the defence secretary William Perry.

Beard was the youngest appointed cabinet minister in the administration of Tennessee Governor Dunn, and was the Tennessee representative in the U.S. congress from 1972-1983. He serves on the US Egypt President’s Council as one of its 15 U.S. members who provide the US and Egypt with business community views, concerns and council in ways to expand bilateral trade and investment ties.[27]

Thomas M. Culligan
Executive Vice President, Business Development , Chief Executive Officer, Raytheon International, Inc.

He is on the executive committee of the National Defence Industrial Association. Their meetings and events are described as ‘the best defence forums for knowledge, networking and access to key decision makers.’[28]

Frank S. Marchilena
Executive Vice President , President, Command, Control, Communication and Information Systems

Joined Raytheon in 1967 and is a member of the US Defense Science Board.[29] This government board exists to advise the government on ‘scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition process, and other matters of special interest to the Department of Defense.’[30]

William H. Swanson
Executive Vice President , Raytheon Company , President, Electronic Systems

Neal E. Minahan
Senior Vice President and General Counsel , Raytheon Company

Keith Peden
Senior Vice President, Human Resources

Other directors include:

  • Former CIA director John M. Deutch
  • Former NATO supreme commander John R. Galvin
  • Former New Hampshire Senator Warren B. Rudman

More information and photos of the directors at: www.raytheon.com/newsroom/meeting.htm

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References
[22] ‘US Defense Industry, global Partnerships’, Defence Systems Daily web-site:http://defence-data.com/current/pagerip2.htm#EURC“> http://defence-data.com/current/pagerip2.htm#EURC accessed 16 April 2002

[23] ‘US Defense Industry, global Partnerships’, Defence Systems Daily web-site: http://defence-data.com/current/pagerip2.htm#EURC accessed 16 April 2002

[24] ‘Raytheon Reports Fourth Quarter Results’, web-site: www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/micro_stories.pl?ACCT=149999&TICK=RTN&STORY=/www/story/01-23-2002/0001654074&EDATE=Jan+23,+2002 accessed 17 April 2002

[25] Raytheon Annual Report 2000

[26] ‘Profile CEO Burnham’, source: Raytheon, web-site: http://www.raytheon.com/newsroom/profiles/burnham.pdf accessed 17 April 2002

[27] Raytheon web-site: www.raytheon.com/newsroom/profiles/beard.pdf accessed 17 April 2002

[28]National Industrial Defense Association web-site: http://www.ndia.org/ accessed 17 April 2002

[29]Biography Marchilena, source: Raytheon, web-site: http://www.raytheon.com/newsroom/profiles/marchilena.pdf+Frank+S.+Marchilena+&hl=en accessed 17 April 2002

[30]Defense Science Board web-site: http://www.acq.osd.mil/dsb/charter.htm accessed 17 April 2002

Raytheon: Influence/Lobbying

3.1 Lobbying

 

Raytheon has a full time lobbying staff in the US of 19 people[31] and has employed at least 5 outside lobbying firms.[32] (Arent, Fox et al, Campbell-Crane & Assoc Inc, McDermott O’Neill & Associates, O’Neill, Athy & Casey, Verner, Liipfert et al) Raytheon budgets at least $1.6 million annually for lobbying.[33]

Raytheon is a member of the following lobby groups:

US Council for International Business (USCIB)

‘The USCIB was founded in 1945 to promote an open world trading system, and is now among the premier pro-trade, pro-market liberalisation organisations. The USCIB has an active membership base of over 300 multinational companies, law firms and business associations, and claims to provide unparalleled access to international policy makers and regulatory authorities.’[35]

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA)
Founded in 1919 to promote the aerospace industry at all levels of government. It pushes hard for increased defence spending across the board.[36]

American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)
Officially founded in 1963 it is again an organization to promote the aeronautics and astronautics industry, pushing hard for increased defence spending, a full National Missile Defence program and a change in export control policies to allow easier exportation of products.[37]

3.2 Influencing Research and Education

 

When they set up shop in Northern Ireland it led to a change in the curriculum of local universities to cater to Raytheon’s needs. As one of Raytheon’s press releases says ‘Two local universities, University of Ulster and Queen’s University will be unique contributors to this effort [locating in NI]. Raytheon is committed to working with them on research and development, recruitment and employee development.’[34]

3.3 Links with the US Government

 

There are several members of the board with direct links to the US government (see above section on Board of Directors), and to NATO (which in practice is often run by the US government, and a major client of the US arms industry).

Raytheon also hires former politicians to advance their causes. For example they hired former house appropriations committee chair Bob Livingston (R- Louisiana) to make the case for the controversial NMD (National Missile Defense System) in the US capital.

US intelligence played a decisive role in enabling Raytheon to win the contract in Brazil for the $1.4 billion SIVAM surveillance system for the Amazon rainforest (see Corporate Crimes section). When the contract was awarded to Raytheon it announced that it wished to congratulate the Brazil and US governments who ‘worked so diligently and with such a strong sense of purpose to make this important program a reality.’[38]

An example of how closely linked Raytheon and the US government are concerns the British governments tender in 1999 for the latest missiles to equip their future Eurofighters. Raytheon had enjoyed a de facto monopoly in beyond visual range Air-Air missiles due to the advanced characteristics of their missiles. Thus when a European consortium led by Matra Bae Dynamics (MBD) announced a bid what was at stake was not only the consolidation of the European middle industry but Raytheon’s quasi- monopoly in Air-Air missiles. Tony Blair received various personal letters from the US president Bill Clinton while the US defence secretary kept up pressure on his British counterpart, even requesting support for the US programme the day before the announcement of the British decision[42] (the only Government decision so far which has gone against Raytheon).

3.4 Backing the UK government

 

Raytheon is a New Labour backer, it paid the Labour party over £5,000 in sponsorship in 1997 and also flew MPs to Paris[39]. In June 1999 the company was rewarded with an £800 million contract for their ASTOR battlefield radar spy-plane system.[40] Overall more arms contracts have been approved by the Blair government than by the Tories and some of these go to countries with appalling human rights records such as Indonesia, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.[41]


References
[31] http://ipan.net/starwars/raytheon.pdf (source: Indiana Peace Action Network, date viewed: 01/10/01)

[32] ‘Total Disclosed Annual Lobbying Expenditures’, Raytheon Watch web-site: http://www.gis.net/~larrabee/Ratco97lobby.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[33] Ibid.

[34] Raytheon web-site: http://www.raytheon.com/press/1999/aug/derry.html accessed 17 April 2002

[35] www.uscib.org/About%20USCIB.asp> www.uscib.org/About%20USCIB.asp (source: USCIB, date viewed: 01/10/01)

[36] http://www.aia-aerospace.org/about/management/mission.cfm (source: The Aerospace Industries Association of America, date viewed: 17/04/02)

[37] www.aiaa.org/public/index2.cfm?pubp=10 (source: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, date viewed: 17/04/02)

[38] Raytheon web-site: www.raytheon.com/press/1997/mar/sivam.html accessed 17 April 2002

[39] Private Eye magazine, date: 25/8/99

[40] ‘The Aerospace World on the Internet’, www.aeroworldnet.com/1in06219.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[41] www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk_politics/newsid_503000/503495.stm (source: BBC News, date viewed: 11/10/01)

Raytheon: Corporate Crimes

4.1 Weapons Manufacture

 

International law, established at the end of World War 2, ‘holds individuals and corporations liable for supplying governments with weapons that are used to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity’. Thus the makers of Zyklon-B agent used in the gas chambers in the Second World War were successfully convicted in the Nuremberg trials, even though Zyklon B wasn’t designed to kill humans, because the company should have known what the gas was used for.[45]

International law also defines the destruction of ‘objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, and the use of weapons and tactics that cannot distinguish between combatants and non-combatants as war crimes. On Wednesday 20th October 1999, Sheriff Margaret Gimblett dropped the charges against Angie Zelter, Ulla Roder and Ellen Moxley of damaging a Trident facility in Loch Goil, Scotland, because the threat or use of Trident is an infringement of international and customary law.[46] This was subsequently successfully challenged by Scotland’s senior law officer, the Lord Advocate Colin Boyd QC, in a highly unusual step to ensure the government got its way in ensuring nuclear weapons were legal.[47]

Attacks by Western Powers using Tomahawk missiles have deliberately targeted essential civilian services.[48] In Yugoslavia the US navy fired 220 Tomahawk missiles, designed to weaken the country by making life unbearable for the Serbian people. Tomahawks with special loads containing carbon filaments destroyed Belgrade’s electrical grid. The destruction of the major bridges across the Danube using the missiles dealt a huge economic blow to Bulgaria and Romania. Stray Tomahawks landed in Bulgaria.

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4.2 Bringing war dependent industry to Northern Ireland

 

In 1999, Raytheon’s plans to set up a software centre in Northern Ireland came under fire. The Londonderry-based campaign group, the Pat Finucane Centre, said it was disturbing that both SDLP leader John Hume and the province’s First Minister David Trimble, the latest winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, welcomed an industry dependent on war. Spokesman, Paul O’Connor, claimed there was also concern that contracts were to be carried out for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). “The MoD have been actively involved in the legal battle to gain anonymity for the soldiers on Bloody Sunday and now we are going to have people working in a factory in this city to supply contracts for the MoD,” he said.[43]

 

4.3 Raytheon Peacemakers question Raytheon’s responsibility for mass destruction

 

In March 1999 eleven members of a citizen weapons inspection team calling themselves Raytheon Peacemakers went on trial in Lawrence District Court (near Boston, US). The six were arrested at the Raytheon plant in Andover in October 1998 and charged with trespass when they entered the facility “in search of evidence that components of weapons of mass destruction are under construction” there. The group represented themselves and were permitted to present a defence of necessity during the three-day trial. Their main witness for the defence was former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who has seen first-hand the devastation caused in Iraq and Sudan by cruise missiles and other weapons produced in whole or part by Raytheon. The six-person jury returned a guilty verdict after three hours of deliberation on March 10. All were sentenced to one-year unsupervised probation, plus $35 witness protection fee or seven hours community service.[49]

See also: ‘Citizen’s team arrested inspecting Raytheon, Major missile maker in Massachusetts suspected of abating violations of international law’, by Michael True.

Web site: http://www.nonviolence.org/nukeresister/nr114/114raytheon.htm

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4.4 Cancer

 

German soldiers claim that they contracted cancer through operating military radar machinery. The soldiers have launched lawsuits against the government, and plan further action against the US manufacturers, which include Raytheon. The 773 alleged victims had operated radar equipment for either the West German or East German army between the 1950s and the 1980s. The majority of the plaintiffs currently suffer from cancer. Mr Geulen, the soldier’s representative, is also to launch a $350m lawsuit in May on behalf of 400 former soldiers against the US manufacturers of the machinery. It alleges that the equipment was imperfectly set up and lacking in adequate shielding devices.[51]

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4.5 Job Security

 

In October 1994 Raytheon announced plans to lay off all 870 employees at two aircraft plants in England that it had purchased from British Aerospace. This was despite the fact, according to union officials, that workers had cut overheads by 25% and increased productivity by a third and that the Labour party had promised the workers ‘that their jobs were safe for many years to come.’[52]

In November 2000 the Boston Herald reported that Raytheon cut 147 jobs less than a month after a strike in which one of the main issues was job security.[53] This is just the latest in a long trend of job cutting and broken promises. Raytheon announced major job cuts (9,700 people) in January 1998.[54] On 29 January 2002, Raytheon Co. announced it plans to fire 400 engineers from its Tucson, Arizona-based missile business.[55] On 1 February 2002 Raytheon Aircraft Co. made 300 people redundant, as a Raytheon official announced even more lay offs.[56] Many corporations, including Raytheon, have used the 11th of September 2001 as an excuse to lay off workers, although many of them have not lost out on profits since then. On the contrary, arms manufacturers such as Raytheon are doing very well since the terrorist attack on the US and the following military retaliation.

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4.6 Failing to recognise unions

 

Raytheon refused to recognise democratically elected unions at its plants in Manchester and Pelham, New Hampshire, where non-union guards voted to join the Raytheon guards’ assoc. Eventually in November 1990 the US court of Appeals for the first circuit found Raytheon in violation of US labour law and forced Raytheon to bargain with the guards’ elected union[57].

 

4.7 Discrimination against employees

 

In 1987 California’s fair employment and housing commission found Raytheon’s Goleta, CA plant guilty of illegal discrimination for firing an employee who had AIDS. Although a doctor told Raytheon the employee could return to work without posing a risk to other employees, corporation managers feared that co-workers would ‘catch’ the AIDS virus. The commission ordered the corporation to rehire the employee and pay him $6,000 in back wages. The commission’s ruling came too late, however, since by this time the employee was dead.[58]

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4.8 Breaking The Law

 

In May 1999 Reuters reported that Raytheon would pay $3 million to AGES group and purchase $13 million worth of AGES aircraft parts to settle allegations that a security firm hired by Raytheon eavesdropped on and stole documents from AGES.[59]

To discourage the proliferation of nuclear weapons the US imposed economic sanctions against Pakistan for its 1998 nuclear testing. Raytheon attempted to complete a prohibited sale of satellite communications equipment by channelling the sale through its Canadian subsidiary.[60]

In Oct 1994 Raytheon co. paid the US government $4 million to settle a claim that the company inflated a defence contract for anti-missile radar.[61]

In Oct 1993 Raytheon paid $3.7 million to settle allegations that it misled the defence department by overstating the labour costs involved in manufacturing Patriot missiles.[62]

In March 1990 Raytheon pleaded guilty in a US district court in Virginia to one felony count of illegally obtaining secret Air Force budget and planning documents. They were fined $10,000 for ‘conveyance without authority’ and $900,000 in civil penalties and damages.

In Oct 1987 the justice department signed onto a $36 million suit, which alleged that Raytheon submitted false claims for work done on missiles. The government eventually closed the case citing lack of evidence.[63]

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4.9 Securities Fraud

 

On Oct 12th 1999 $8 billion was wiped off the value of Raytheon’s shares in a single day. The plunge was triggered by a Wall Street Journal report that Raytheon was over cost or behind schedule on more than a dozen fixed-price defence contracts. According to Reuters, CEO Daniel Burnham told analysts he’d been working to reform a culture at Raytheon where managers think in terms of what they hope to deliver, rather than what is realistic. A host of Shareholder securities fraud class action lawsuits were filed against Raytheon and its officers in response.[64]

Read more: http://www.gis.net/~larrabee/classaction.htm (source: Raytheon Watch)

4.10 The Amazon Controversy

In 1994 Raytheon was awarded a $1.4 billion dollar[65] project in Brazil to electronically survey the entire Brazilian rainforest – a complex sensory web helping to counter the chronic shortage in manpower looking after the worlds biggest forest. However the project was paralysed for 3 years after evidence came to light suggesting that Raytheon’s lobbyists might have bribed a senator to gain backing for the project.[66] The Brazilian senate eventually approved the project after Brazil’s president blocked a parliamentary investigation into accusations of corruption in the Raytheon contract.[67] The Brazilian Air Force Minister, Mauro Gandra was forced to resign after police released a tape of a Raytheon representative and an aide to President Cardoso discussing bribes to Brazilian senators to grease approval of the project.[68]

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4.11 Shoddy Merchandise / Missile Accuracy

A great cover up by governments and Raytheon has surrounded the accuracy of their missiles, it was claimed that the Patriot, Tomahawk and JSOW were highly successful in the Gulf war and numerous pictures of missiles going down chimneys were shown. Initially the US army said the Patriot achieved an 80% success rate in Saudi Arabia and 50% in Israel. This was later reduced to 70% and 40% respectively. However a 10-month investigation in 1992 by the US House of Representatives Government Operations Subcommittee on Legislation and National Security concluded that there was little evidence to prove that the Patriot hit more than a few of the scud missiles launched.

Another 1992 investigation by the General Accounting Office found that only 9% of Patriot-Scud engagements could be proved to end in a ‘kill’. Except in those 9% of cases the army could only prove that the Patriots came close to the scuds, not that they destroyed them.[69] Both reports stated that the Patriot chasing Scud television pictures were misleading as most were only damaging scuds or pushing them off course. In Israel/Palestine the amount of damage and number of casualties increased after the Patriots were deployed there.[70]

Another example of shoddy merchandise: Defence experts have blasted Raytheon’s Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV), under development for the NMD (National Missile Defence) program as technically unsatisfactory. The Welch panel noted the ‘hardware-poor nature of the EKV program and pointed out that the EKV may not be able to withstand the shock loads once mounted on the actual Ground Based Interceptor Booster to be used in the NMD system.’ The operational version of the actual booster will not be tested until 2003.[50]

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4.12 Environment Concerns

Despite evidence that incineration is the worst option for destroying the U.S.’s obsolete chemical weapons stockpile at the Umatilla Army Depot, the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission (EQC) gave $1.3 to the army and Raytheon to construct five chemical weapons incinerators. Despite strong protests, on February 7, 1997, the EQC made its final decision to accept the United States Army’s application to build a chemical weapons incineration facility near Hermiston, Oregon.

Some examples of the chemicals to be incinerated include nerve gas and mustard agent; bioaccumulative organochlorines such as dioxins, furans, chloromethane, vinyl chloride, and PCBs; metals such as lead, mercury, copper and nickel; and toxins such as arsenic. These represent only a fraction of the thousands of chemicals and metals that will potentially be emitted throughout the Columbia River watershed.

Contrary to what incineration advocates claim, Raytheon Watch argue that there is no urgent need to incinerate, since there is little potential for explosion or chain reaction as a result of decay at the stockpile in Umatilla. A 1994 U.S. General Accounting Office report estimates that the actual number of years for ‘safe weapons storage’ is 120 years rather than the 17.7 years originally estimated by the National Research Council. Thus the incineration could be delayed until all the alternatives, such as chemical neutralization, electro-chemical oxidation, and solvated electron technology (SET), are considered. This is supported by a National Academy of Sciences report, entitled Review and Evaluation of Alternative Chemical Disposal Technologies, which states that there has been sufficient development to warrant re-evaluation of alternative technologies for chemical agent destruction.[71]

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References [42] European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company EADS N.V. web-site: http://www.eads.net/eads/en/index.htm?/xml/intl/press/archiv/foundingpartners/casa2000/20000jun_1.xml&press accessed 17 April 2002

[43] ‘UK: Northern Ireland Software centre plans under fire’, BBC News, 25 August 1999, BBC website: news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/northern_ireland/newsid_428000/428973.stm accessed 17 April 2002

[44] Raytheon web-site: http://www.raytheon.com/finance/proxy.pdf accessed 17 April 2002

[45] The Zyklon B Case, British Military Court Hamburg, Source: Law-Reports of Trials of War Criminals, The United Nations War Crimes Commission, Volume I, London, HMSO,1947 web-site: www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/WCC/zyklonb.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[46] ‘Trident legal, says Crown’, 9 October 2000, BBC News web-site: www.news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_963000/963668.stm (source: BBC News, date viewed: 17/04/02) (source: BBC News, date viewed: 17/04/02)

[47] ‘Judges rule Trident not illegal’, 30 March 2001, BBC News web-site: news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/scotland/newsid_1251000/1251071.stm accessed 17 April 2002

[48] ‘Select Committee on Defense: Fourteenth Report’, The UK Parliament World Wide Web Service: http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmdfence/347/34713.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[49] http://www.lcnp.org/wcourt/Raytheon.htm (source: The Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy Inc., date viewed: 17/04/02)

[50] ‘Star Wars Continued’, Multinational Monitor, October 2000, Volume 21, Number 10, web site: www.essential.org/monitor/mm2000/00october/corp1.html (source: Multinational Monitor, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[51] ‘German soldiers sue over cancer’, BBC News, 26 March 2002, BBC website: news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1895000/1895179.stm accessed 17 April 2002

[52] http://www.gis.net/~larrabee/raytheonprofile.htm (Source: Raytheon, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[53] Boston Herald; 1 November 2000; pg. 043

[54] ‘Massive job cuts announced’, 29 January 1998, by Larry Roberts, http://www.wsws.org/news/1998/jan1998/jobcut.shtml (source: World Socialist Web Site, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[55] ‘Raytheon to cut 400 engineering jobs in Tucson’, Boston Business Journal, 29 January 2002, web-site: http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2002/01/28/daily21.html accessed 17 April 2002

[56]’Raytheon: More layoffs likely’, 1 February 2002, The Wichita Eagle, web-site: http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/business/2581881.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[57] www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/issues/1991/03/mm0391_10.html (source: Multinational Monitor, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[58] http://www.essential.org/monitor/hyper/issues/1991/03/mm0391_10.html (source: Multinational Monitor, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[59] www.ipan.net/starwars/rogues.pdf (source: Indiana Peace Action Network, date viewed: 01/10/01)

[60] http://www.gis.net/~larrabee/raytheonprofile.htm (Source: Raytheon Watch, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[61] www.ipan.net/starwars/raytheon.pdf (source: Indiana Peace Action Network, date viewed: 01/10/01)

[62] http://www.gis.net/~larrabee/raytheonprofile.htm (Source: Raytheon Watch, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[63] http://www.gis.net/~larrabee/raytheonprofile.htm (Source: Raytheon Watch, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[64] http://www.gis.net/~larrabee/classaction.htm [65] ipan.net/starwars/raytheon.pdf (source: Indiana Peace Action Network, date viewed: 01/10/01)

[66] ipan.net/starwars/raytheon.pdf (source: Indiana Peace Action Network, date viewed: 01/10/01)

[67] www.gis.net/~larrabee/Brazil.htm (source: Raytheon Watch, date viewed: 17 April 2002)

[68] ‘Andean Drug War update: dissent against Washington’s drugs war emerges as chaos spreads’, by Bill Weinberg, The shadow web-site: http://www.mediafilter.org/shadow/S42/S42dea.html accessed 17 April 2002

[69] ‘Report on performance of patriot missile in Gulf War’, Federation of American Scientists (FAS), News Release, 6 April 1992, http://www.fas.org/spp/starwars/congress/1992_h/h920407i.htm accessed 17 April 2002

[70]’Defence Electronics, The West-Indian Trade of the 21st Century’, NODE News 52, May/June 2001, web-site: http://www.nodenet.org/NN/derryarms.html accessed 17 April 2002

[71] www.gis.net/~larrabee/raytheonprofile.htm (source: Raytheon Watch, date viewed: 17/04/02)

5. FURTHER INFORMATION & RESOURCES

 

 

The law firm J. Whitfield Larrabee & Associates carry a website on Raytheon called Raytheon Watch at: www.gis.net/~larrabee/raytheonprofile.htm.

Find a global calendar of pro-peace and anti-racism protests, meetings, benefits and conferences at: http://pax.protest.net. On this site you can read more about the Raytheon Peacemakers who undertake non-violent action against Raytheon, including citizen weapon inspections at Raytheon’s plants and a monthly peace vigil outside Raytheon’s missile and bomb factory. See for example: http://pax.protest.net/event.cgi?ID=210149&state_values=SITE!.40

The Indiana Peace Action Network (IPAN) is a grass roots organization of Hoosiers committed to nuclear disarmament, stopping arms sales to dictators, ending the economic sanctions against the people of Iraq and cutting the bloated military budget in order to fund community needs. Web site: www.ipan.net/

The Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) Works to end the international arms trade and the UK’s role in it as one of the world’s leading arms traders.

Web site: www.caat.org.uk

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) CND campaigns non-violently to rid the world of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction and to create genuine security for future generations.Web site: www.cnduk.org

Mother Jones is a magazine of investigation and ideas for independent thinkers. Mother Jones is also accessible online, and carries a good section on Arms. Web site: http://www.motherjones.com/arms/

Arms Trade – A major cause of suffering Web site: http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade.asp

Nonviolence.Org is a source for up-to-minute news and commentary on peace and non-violence. Web site: www.nonviolence.org/

Voices in the Wilderness – A campaign to end the economic sanctions against the people of Iraq. Web site: http://www.nonviolence.org/vitw/voices-uk.html