Let me now tell you how Raytheon has emerged as a leading manufacturer and supplier of arms

through different discourses In the past.

Raytheon was first established in 1922. The company initially focussed on refrigerator technologies
and then later on shifted to electronics.

The company in 1928 began expanding into electronics. The first product that it made was a battery
eliminator which eliminated the needs for short lived batteries. The company till the 1940 had
become a giant manufacturer and supplier of electronics.

After a decade it was the time of war and there was a growing need for companies who could
manufacture magnetron a special electron tube which could increase the capability of the radar to
detect enemy aircraft. American companies were on the lookout of such companies who could mass
produce such magnetron. This need was then satisfied by Raytheon with support from the MIT. They
had begun to mass manufacture magnetron tubes for use in radar sets. At war's end in 1945 the
company was responsible for about 80 percent of all magnetrons manufactured. This was the first
time that Raytheon had received such a big contract. It increased their revenue by about 10 times.

After the world war the company started expanding through acquisitions that included the
submarine signal company. In the early 50s the company started manufacturing guided missiles.
After that they started receiving the military contracts from the government and in this period it
named itself to Raytheon. It went public in 1952 with a quoted share price of 10$ per share. Now it is
worth 191$ for 1 share. The net sales reported at that were about 111 million as compared to 2017
which was reported at 25 BILLION.

In 1993 during the Persian Gulf war, Raytheon’s patriot missile received great international exposure
resulting in substantial increase in the company’s sales outside of united states. In order to establish
a monopoly or leader in such area it purchased all kinds of equipment’s in the field of aircraft
modification. In 1995 the company started expanding it capabilities to business jets and aircrafts
activities. It merged with beech aircraft cooperation to enter such a line of business.

In the era of 1997 to 2001 the company had to go throw a number of setbacks like funding for a
space based satellite surveillance was held up by the congress. The congress also cancelled a 9
billion navy area defence programme which was supposed to be set up. 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.

Net sales of the company in the year 1998 was about 16,241$ and in 2001 it was about 16,760$.
This is a very small increase in terms of numbers. In 2002 there is a sharp fall in the net sales as the
sales went down to 14,827. From then there has a been a drastic increase in the sales till 2010 which
came upto about 25 billion. After that there has been a sudden dip in net sales. Withdrawal of us
forces from Iraq and Afghanistan is among the major reasons for downfall of arms supply in 2011.
The same is the reason for the surge in the investment in military spending in the year 2008. The
spending was high because of the wars against Iraq and afghan and investment in an arms deal with
Taiwan.
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]nvc

In November 2007, Raytheon purchased Saros 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.

2010s

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.

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.

In 2017, Saudi Arabia signed business deals worth billions of dollars with multiple American
companies, including Raytheon.