Tucson will become the headquarters for the new Raytheon Missiles & Defense business, when Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. finalize their merger, the Arizona Daily Star reported. The move will combine Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems and with Raytheon Integrated Defense, which is now headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.
A Raytheon Missile Systems spokesman recently confirmed the move to the publication. Raytheon is the Tucson region's largest employer with about 13,000 local workers. The company has been working to expand its campus at Tucson International Airport amid a plan to add more than 2,000 jobs. Raytheon also has significant operations at the University of Arizona Tech Park.
“We shared with our employees that upon merger close, our consolidated businesses will be named Raytheon Missiles & Defense and Raytheon Intelligence & Space," Raytheon spokesman John Patterson told the Arizona Daily Star. "They’ll be headquartered in Tucson, Ariz., and Arlington, Va., respectively. We look forward to sharing more information once the merger closes — anticipated early in the second quarter of this year.” The company said it would not announce the headquarters location of the new business units until the merger was finalized.
Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon Missile Systems since last March, will become president of the combined missile and integrated defense unit as part of the merged parent company, which will be called Raytheon Technologies Corp.
Raytheon Intelligence & Space will be formed from Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems and Intelligence, Information and Services units and Raytheon’s Forcepoint cybersecurity unit. Together with two of UTC’s current businesses — engine maker Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace — they will form the four main business units of the merged company.
The so-called "merger of equals" will create an aerospace and defense behemoth with annual revenues of $74 billion, second only to Boeing in the industry.
Raytheon and United Technologies shareholders have approved the merger of the two companies, which is also contingent on United Technologies’ successful spinoff of its Carrier heating, ventilation and air-conditioning business and its Otis Elevator subsidiary. The deal is also subject to federal anti-trust approval, which is expected after the Defense Department said it had few concerns about the merger.
The company makes many of the nation's front-line defense systems, including the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Standard Missile series of ship-defense and ballistic missile interceptors, and more recently has been working on hypersonic missiles and laser weapons to defeat drones and other threats.