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Raytheon is one of the top five weapons companies in the world, with a 2021 revenue of $64.4 billion (USD). In 2020 Raytheon Company merged with United Technologies Corporation to form Raytheon Technologies. It has four subsidiaries; Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, Raytheon Intelligence & Space, and Raytheon Missiles & Defense. It is the largest manufacturer of guided missiles in the world, and has been projected by some investment analysts to grow faster than key competitors Boeing and Lockheed Martin, potentially bringing it to the number one slot in the world in the near future. Between them, Raytheon and United Technologies have been charged by US authorities 8 separate times for violations of export controls.

The current (as of mid-2022) US Secretary of Defense is Lloyd Austin III, who also sits on the Board of Directors at Raytheon. He was appointed by President Biden in 2020. Before joining the Board Austin had been a General for the US armed forces and the top commander of all US forces in the Middle East. US involvement in the Saudi-led conflict in Yemen began under his command.

Lloyd Austin being sworn in as US Secretary of Defense

After he had retired from the military and joined Raytheon's board, the company sold $8 billion USD worth of arms to Saudi-Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The deal was blocked by Congress on human rights grounds, but later forced through by the Trump administration. Use of Raytheon weapons in Yemen has been confirmed by numerous organisations including Amnesty International, who called their laser-guided bomb "the latest piece in a wider web of evidence of the use of US-manufactured weapons in incidents that could amount to war crimes".

The previous Secretary of Defense under the Trump administration was Mark Esper, who had previously worked as a lobbyist for Raytheon.

The company also manufactures spyware, which has been used by repressive regimes around the world to spy on civilians including journalists, human rights advocates, activists, and political opponents.