Raytheon News
Raytheon's unique position as a major aerospace and defense firm allows it to flourish even when the economy is not going its way. Because of its large market share in commercial aerospace, Raytheon is well-insulated from the general population. US Defense priorities also depend on Raytheon's ability to perform rigorous, high-touch R&D quickly enough to be able compete with other great power nations.
For example, the defense industry is in a unique position to benefit from a transformational trend that is set to transform the way nations defend themselves against great-power conflict, and that has the potential to be a game changer for US military priorities and commercial aerospace demand. Raytheon has this kind of competitive moat. I recommend that you look closely at Raytheon during market turmoil.
The President Biden's visit to Ukraine could boost stock prices
The White House authorized the deployment of the Patriot missile systems to Kyiv, Ukraine. This was before Russia's brazen invasion last month. While the battle for Ukraine is symbolic, it gives Raytheon's future clients a strong indication that its products are effective in protecting their nations against attack.
That could be a good thing for Raytheon in the long run, especially because a successful deployment to Ukraine would mean a significant increase in defense spending by the nation-states that purchase its wares.
This could help to fuel an accelerated rise in RTX stock prices, as nation-states looking to revamp their arsenals seek out weapons that have been effectively used on the battlefields of war-torn countries. This kind of battlefield effectiveness is a big deal in a world where nations are seeking to retool their armed forces and refocus them on non-confrontational policing and diplomacy, rather than the type of combat that has been fought by warring superpowers for centuries.
Another transformational shift is the emergence of drones as an important new threat to air and missile defense capabilities. Drones not only are small but also very maneuverable. That means they are extremely difficult to detect by traditional air and missile-defense systems, as well as those that use ground sensors.
Raytheon developed drone defense radars that can track these elusive and stealthy weapons of war. The company's V3 radar is already a part of the Navy's Ford-class aircraft carrier, and it is scheduled to be activated later this year.
It's also working on V2 and V3 versions of its SPY-6 radar, which will be installed on future destroyers. Lockheed Martin is managing the integration of four SPY-6 radar faces with IAMD (Integrated Air and Missile Defense), systems.
This makes it one of most complex and specialized military radars and an important element of its overall effectiveness. Mills said that Raytheon has plans to put the system on every carrier built by HII in five years' time, despite all the challenges.