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Company Name: Raytheon Company
Company Type: Defence Sensor Research & Manufacturer
Company Profile
Shared past, one future: the making of a global technology leader
With a history of innovation spanning 85 years, Raytheon today is the result of
continuous technological leadership. Over the years Raytheon has acquired
businesses with impressive legacies of their own including: Beechcraft;
E-Systems; Texas Instruments' Defense Systems and Electronics business; and
Hughes Aircraft's Defense Electronics business. All these businesses brought
complementary skills and expertise, which have combined to make Raytheon a
global leader in defense, homeland security and other government markets
throughout the world.. Here's a quick look back at the history of Raytheon. This
proud past has positioned Raytheon well for an even more successful future.
Beginnings 1920s and 1930s
In 1922, Raytheon is founded as the American Appliance Company, a maker of
machinery, motors and components. In 1930, Texas Instruments (TI) is founded as
Geophysical Service, Inc. a provider of contract exploration services to the
petroleum industry. In 1932, Hughes Aircraft is created as a division of the
Hughes Tool Company, with a focus on military aircraft research and design;
Beech Aircraft is established that same year. In 1945, the Texas Engineering and
Manufacturing Company (TEMCO), precursor to E-Systems, is founded.
World War II Years 1940s
Raytheon meets urgent production needs for magnetron tubes used by Allied forces
for radar defense, and produces the Sea Going microwave surface search radar
that went on every U.S. Navy ship. The SG provided vital situational awareness
in the major battles in the Pacific and helped eliminate the submarine menace in
the Battle of the Atlantic. TI also produces magnetic anomaly submarine
detection devices for the U.S. government, and shortly after the war receives
its first airborne radar system contract. Hughes plays a key defense role by
producing more than 1 million feet of its flexible Ammunition Feed Chute for
aircraft, and developing the XF-11 Photoreconnaissance Plane. Beechcraft
produces 7,400 planes for U.S. and Allied forces; around 90 percent of all U.S.
Army Air Corps bombardiers and navigators are trained in Beechcraft AT-7 and
AT-11 planes.
Birds of Prey 1940s
As America re-arms after the war, Raytheon, Hughes and TI fill the skies with a
new generation of guided missiles … all named after birds, including Raytheon's
Lark Missile, Sparrow III (AIM-7) Missile, and HAWK (MIM-23) Systems; TI's
Shrike Missile (AGM-45); and Hughes' Falcon (AIM-4) Missile. In 1947, Beech
introduces a magnificent bird of its own: the Model 35 Beech Bonanza, a
high-performance, single-engine, business airplane that's still being made to
this day, extending its industry record for continuous production.
Reaching New Heights 1950s and 1960s
In the 50’s and early 60’s, amazing innovations are everywhere. Raytheon's Lark
Missile knocks a test drone out of the air, becoming the first missile-mounted
guidance system and continuous wave radar capable of intercepting moving
objects. TI leverages its knowledge of silicon transistors to invent the
integrated circuit, enabling the digital revolution and forever changing the
world. Hughes launches the first geosynchronous communications satellite,
enabling Americans to watch live coverage of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a landmark
in global broadcasting. Beech introduces the Model 90 Beech King Air, which
quickly establishes itself as the industry standard in corporate jet props.
After several mergers and acquisitions, TEMCO becomes known as LTV, the company
that would spin off E-Systems just over a decade later.
To the Moon 1960s
The 1969 lunar landing captures the world's imagination, and Raytheon, TI and
Hughes all play key roles. Earlier in the decade, the Hughes-built Surveyor
spacecraft completes the first successful soft lunar landing, paving the way for
the Apollo flights to follow. For Apollo 11, Raytheon builds the computer that
guides the space vehicles in their journey, and its on-board microwave tube
transmits radio and TV signals to earth, enabling millions to witness history
live. The Apollo Guidance Computer gained the reputation of the most reliable
digital computer of its time as there were no failures of any type during the
missions. And TI contributes precision switches, thermostats, transistors, and
other critical semiconductor components to the program.
Vietnam Era 1970s
The AIM-7F Sparrow enters production to improve dog fight capability. TI’s
laser-guided bombs absolutely transform tactical air warfare, and the Hughes
Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided (TOW) anti-tank missile
demonstrates high effectiveness when introduced into combat.
Modern Conflicts 1980s and 1990s
In the Persian Gulf War, Raytheon's Patriot Missile intercepts Iraqi Scuds fired
at Israel and Saudi Arabia, becoming the first missile ever to engage a hostile
ballistic missile in combat. TI's High-Speed Anti-Radiation Missile (HARM) and
Paveway laser-guided "smart bomb" constitute 65 percent of air-delivered weapons
used by Coalition Forces in Operation Desert Storm. Hughes develops its own
state-of-the-art weapon system, the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air (AMRAAM)
AIM-20 Missile. The U.S. Air Force selects the Beechjet for its T-1A Jayhawk
program to train tanker and transport pilots; the company will eventually
deliver 180 aircraft for the program.
Raytheon Today 2000s
Raytheon today is a unique technology company and a world leader in defense
electronics, with a broader range of products, service and capabilities than
ever before. The proud legacies of Raytheon, E-Systems, Texas Instruments,
Hughes Aircraft and others have come together to form one company with one
vision: to be the most admired defense and aerospace systems supplier through
world-class people and technology. With the hard work and dedication of more
than 72,000 employees, Raytheon is well-equipped to meet the needs of its
customers in over 80 countries … today, tomorrow and well into the 21st century.
The Missions Of Tomorrow
Government and defense customers on every continent rely on over 8,000 Raytheon
programs for innovative technology solutions, world-class Mission Systems
Integration and other capabilities in the areas of Sensing; Effects; Command,
Control, Communications and Intelligence systems; as well as a broad range of
Mission Support services. Raytheon delivers renowned innovation and assured
performance, giving customers a distinct operational advantage today, while
helping them prepare for the missions of tomorrow.
About Company
Raytheon Company was founded in Cambridge, Mass., as the American Appliance
Company in 1922, a pivotal time in American history. The first decade of
modernism, the 1920s saw the advent of automobiles, radios and refrigerators.
The electrical industry was extending power lines across the United States, and
telephones were linking every hamlet and home. In the aftermath of World War I,
the roaring '20s was a time of flappers and flasks, and the nation was in flux,
disillusioned by the end of a bitter war that brought no real peace or economic
security and energized by the prospects of modern technological advances.
Emerging from the depths of a severe post-war depression that wiped out jobs and
forged a widening chasm between the privileged and the poor was a breed of
entrepreneurs with a driving ambition to succeed and willingness to gamble on
it.
It is against this backdrop that the founders of Raytheon became business
partners. Two former college roommates, Laurence K. Marshall and Vannevar Bush,
formed the company with Charles G. Smith, a young scientist who had developed
the prototype for a home refrigerator that used artificial coolants. Marshall,
an engineer, businessman and trained physicist, and Bush, a scientist and
professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, along with several other financial backers dreamed of prosperity and
a potential market for their newly developed refrigerator.
As is the case with so many other entrepreneurs, however, the product that
launched the company was a bust and never left the laboratory. Facing failure,
it was Marshall and Bush who suggested revisiting an earlier idea young Smith
had experimented with: a new kind of gaseous tube that would allow radios for
the first time to be plugged into a wall socket and operate on electricity
rather than batteries. The tube would overcome the need for two expensive,
short-lived A and B batteries, the greatest shortcoming to widespread radio use
at the time. By devising a way to replace the B battery with a tube, the small
company not only beat out the army of researchers and engineers of RCA,
Westinghouse and other corporate giants, it produced a device that forced the
entire radio industry into a new direction and made radios affordable and
accessible to every household. Perfected and introduced to the public in 1925,
the tube, known technically as a gaseous rectifier and marketed under the brand
name Raytheon, brought in more than $1 million in sales by the end of 1926 and
positioned the company as a major contributor to the fast-growing radio tube
market for nearly two decades.
In the more than 80 years since, the company would become known for many more
major technological advancements that have changed the course of American
culture and world history. Among these innovations are the first commercial
microwave ovens, miniature tubes for hearing aids, the Fathometer depth sounder,
the mass production of magnetron tubes, early shipboard radar, the first
successful missile guidance system, a space communications system, mobile radio
telephones, the first combat-proven air defense missile system and Terminal
Doppler Weather Radar.
In 1925, the year American Appliance Company began to take off, an Indiana
company made it known that it held prior claim to the American Appliance Company
name. Because of the success of the Raytheon radio tube, company officials at
that time elected to extend the use of the name to describe the entire
organization, and the company's name was officially changed to Raytheon
Manufacturing Company. "Ray" comes from "rai," an Old French word that means "a
beam of light," while "theon" comes from the Greek and means "from the gods."
Furthermore, both the product and company name were deemed scientifically
appropriate given groundbreaking research at the time on the mystery of the
Wolf-Rayet star Zeta Puppis, which emitted bright ultraviolet lines believed to
be the result of gaseous substances. Laboratory experiments by C.G. Smith on the
source of these gases became the basis of crucial importance to his development
of the company's radio tube.
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