Raytheon chooses Tucson for headquarters of combined missiles/defense unit

Tucson will become the new headquarters for a combined business unit made up of Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems and a Massachusetts-based Raytheon business when parent Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. finalize their merger.

A Raytheon Missile Systems spokesman confirmed Friday that Tucson will become headquarters for the new Raytheon Missiles & Defense business, which will combine Missile Systems and Raytheon Integrated Defense, now headquartered in Tewksbury, Massachusetts.

“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 said.

"They’ll be headquartered in Tucson, Arizona and Arlington, Virginia respectively. We look forward to sharing more information once the merger closes — anticipated early in the second quarter of this year.”

Raytheon — Southern Arizona's largest employer — announced in late October that 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.

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But the company said it would not announce the headquarters location of the new business units until the merger was finalized.

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.

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.

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.