Defense contractor and electronics heavyweight extraordinaire Raytheon will build a new manufacturing and testing plant in Alabama. A project of the missile division of Raytheon will occupy the building. Raytheon Missile Systems has been a mainstay in Tucson, Arizona for half a century. The Tucson location won’t be closing. Raytheon is one of the world’s largest defense contractors, and has regularly led the way in other fields, especially in electronic technology.
A new shop in Tucson just was not happening
From an article in Business Week, Raytheon needed a new facility to design, build, and test a new ship defense system and a ship borne interceptor missile. (It would blow up incoming missiles.) A new state-of-the-art facility wouldn’t be feasible in Tucson because of zoning, schedule and other requirements that weren’t able to be met. They picked Huntsville, Ala., from a small list of cities. The groundbreaking and construction will start soon for the $ 75 million, 70,000 square foot building. That’s bound to have some fairly high mortgage payments.
The laser like focus of Raytheon
The Star Wars project made Ronald Reagan a laughingstock, but Raytheon is making laser weapons work. The company is working on a laser defense system that can take down Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAVs) with impunity, and perhaps eventually aircraft. The laser was tested , according to CNET, and also the laser shot 4 UAV drones right down. The high intensity beam causes the targets to burst into flames in moments and drop from the sky.
A strong legacy
Raytheon has a long history of being on the cutting edge of engineering, aside from just defense projects. Before the company adopted the name Raytheon, the business invented a gas filled vacuum tube that allowed radios to run off AC current from the wall rather than needing a battery. (You will find still individuals who rant and rave about how great tube sound is.) Raytheon also invented radar for naval vessels and the microwave oven.
Find more details on this topic
news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10004204.html?tag=mncol
businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9H3GKRO0.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raytheon
