CGE TELEVISORE MOD. TX225 WARMLIGHT CHASSIS T225 CRT TUBE RAYTHEON 23BP4/03.

Raytheon Company is a major American military contractor and industrial corporation with core manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft until early 2007. Raytheon is the world's largest producer of guided missiles.^[2]

Established in 1922, the company reincorporated in 1928 and adopted its present name in 1959. The company has around 72,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of approximately US$25 billion. More than 90% of Raytheon's revenues were obtained from military contracts and, as of 2007, it was the fifth-largest military contractor in the world,^[3] and is the fourth largest defense contractor in the United States by revenue.

Raytheon Headquarters was moved from Lexington, Massachusetts to Waltham, Massachusetts on October 27, 2003.^[4] The company was previously headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1922–1928, Newton, Massachusetts from 1928–1941, Waltham from 1941–1961, Lexington from 1961–2003, and back to Waltham from 2003 onwards.

Early years

In 1922, two former Tufts engineering college roommates Laurence K. Marshall and Vannevar Bush, along with scientist Charles G. Smith, founded the American Appliance Company in Cambridge, Massachusetts.^[5] Its focus, which was originally on new refrigeration technology, soon shifted to electronics. The company's first product was a gaseous (helium) rectifier that was based on Charles Smith's earlier astronomical research of the star Zeta Puppis.^[6] The electron tube was christened with the name Raytheon ("light of/from the gods"^[7]) and was used in a battery eliminator, a type of radio-receiver power supply that plugged into the power grid in place of large batteries. This made it possible to convert household alternating current to direct current for radios and thus eliminate the need for expensive, short-lived batteries.

In 1925, the company changed its name to Raytheon Manufacturing Company and began marketing its rectifier, under the Raytheon brand name, with great commercial success. In 1928 Raytheon merged with Q.R.S. Company, an American manufacturer of electron tubes and switches, to form the successor of the same previous name, Raytheon Manufacturing Company. In 1933 it diversified by acquiring Acme-Delta Company, a producer of transformers, power equipment, and electronic auto parts. By the 1930s, it had already grown to become one of the world's largest vacuum tube manufacturing companies.

During WWII

Early in World War II, physicists in the United Kingdom invented the magnetron, a specialized microwave-generating electron tube that markedly improved the capability of radar to detect enemy planes. American companies were then sought by the U.S. government to perfect and mass-produce the magnetron for ground-based, airborne, and shipborne radar systems, and, with support from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Radiation Laboratory (recently formed to investigate microwave radar), Raytheon received a contract to build the devices. Within a few months of being awarded the contract, Raytheon had already begun to mass manufacture magnetron tubes for use in radar sets and then complete radar systems. At war's end in 1945 the company was responsible for about 80 percent of all magnetrons manufactured. During the war Raytheon also pioneered the production of shipboard radar systems, particularly for submarine detection.

Raytheon's research on the magnetron tube revealed the potential of microwaves to cook food. In 1945, Raytheon's Percy Spencer invented the microwave oven by discovering that the magnetron could rapidly heat food. In 1947, the company demonstrated the Radarange microwave oven for commercial use.

After WWII

In 1945, the company expanded its electronics capability through acquisitions that included the Submarine Signal Company (founded in 1901), a leading manufacturer of maritime safety equipment. With its broadened capabilities, Raytheon developed the first guidance system for a missile that could intercept a flying target. In 1948, Raytheon began to manufacture guided missiles. In 1950, its Lark missile became the first such weapon to destroy a target aircraft in flight. Raytheon then received military contracts to develop the air-to-air Sparrow and ground-to-air Hawk missiles — projects that received impetus from the Korean War. In later decades, it remained a major producer of missiles, among them the Patriot antimissile missile and the air-to-air Phoenix missile. In 1959, Raytheon acquired the marine electronics company Apelco Applied Electronics, which significantly increased its strength in commercial marine navigation and radio gear, as well as less-expensive Japanese suppliers of products such as marine/weather band radios and direction-finding gear. In the same year, it changed its name to Raytheon Company.

During the post-war years, Raytheon also made radio and television transmitters and related equipment for the commercial market in the U.S. and got into the educational publishing business with the acquisition of D.C. Heath. In the 1950s, Raytheon began manufacturing transistors, including the CK722, priced and marketed to hobbyists.

In 1961, the British electronics company A.C. Cossor merged with Raytheon, following its sale by Philips. The new Company's name was Raytheon Cossor. The Cossor side of the organisation is still current in the Raytheon group as of 2009.

In 1965, it acquired Amana Refrigeration, Inc., a manufacturer of refrigerators and air conditioners. Using the Amana brand name and its distribution channels, Raytheon began selling the first countertop household microwave oven in 1967 and became a dominant manufacturer in the microwave oven business.

The 1980s

In 1980, Raytheon acquired Beech Aircraft Corporation, a leading manufacturer of general aviation aircraft founded in 1932 by Walter H. Beech. In 1993 the company expanded its aircraft activities by adding the Hawker line of business jets by acquiring Corporate Jets Inc., the business jet product line of British Aerospace (now BAE Systems). These two entities were merged in 1994 to become the Raytheon Aircraft Company. In the first quarter of 2007 Raytheon sold its aircraft operations, which is now operating as Hawker Beechcraft. The product line of Raytheon's aircraft subsidiary included business jets such as the Hawker 800XP and Hawker 4000, the Beechjet 400A, and the Premier I; the popular King Air series of twin turboprops; and piston-engine aircraft such as the Bonanza. Its special-mission aircraft included the single-turboprop T-6A Texan II, which had been chosen to be the primary training aircraft for the United States Air Force and United States Navy.

The 1990s

In 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, Raytheon's Patriot missile received great international exposure, resulting in a substantial increase in sales for the company outside the United States. In an effort to establish leadership in the defense electronics business, Raytheon purchased in quick succession Dallas-based E-Systems (1995), Chrysler Corporation's defense electronics and aircraft-modification businesses (1996) (portions of these businesses were later sold to L-3 Communications), and the defense unit of Texas Instruments - Defense Systems & Electronics Group (1997). Also in 1997, Raytheon acquired the aerospace and defense business of Hughes Aircraft Company from Hughes Electronics Corporation — a subsidiary of General Motors, which included a number of product lines previously purchased by Hughes Electronics including the former General Dynamics missile business, the defense portion of Delco Electronics (Delco Systems Operations), and Magnavox Electronic Systems.^{[citation needed]}

Raytheon also divested itself of several nondefense businesses in the 1990s, including Amana Refrigeration. On October 12, 1999 Raytheon exited the personal rapid transit (PRT) business as it terminated its PRT 2000^[8] system due to high-cost of development and lack of interest.^[9] The PRT 2000 prototype now sits idle at their Marlboro, Massachusetts facility.^[10]

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Raytheon-ELSI S.p.A. (ELSI), an Italian corporation wholly owned by the United States corporations Raytheon Company (Raytheon), which held 99.16 per cent of the shares, and its subsidiary The Machlett Laboratories (Machlett), which held the remaining 0.83 per cent, was established in Palermo, Italy, where it produced electronic components.

ELSI had been in economic trouble since the 1960s. In 1967, representatives of ELSI and Raytheon held numerous meetings with officials of the Italian Government and of the Sicilian region in an attempt to secure governmental support for ELSI. When it became apparent that these discussions were unlikely to be successful, Raytheon prepared to close the plant. The balance sheet for the end of September 1967 showed that under Italian law and accounting principles the book value of ELSI's assets still exceeded its liabilities. However, internal accounting adjustments in accordance with Rayhteon's accounting policy showed ELSI insolvent. Raytheon therefore formally declared that it would not subscribe to any additional loans made to ELSI. It was, however, ready to financially support an orderly liquidation. The Italian authorities pressed ELSI not to close the plant and promised help. The final decision to close the plant was taken in March 1968.

On April 1, 1968, the Mayor of Palermo issued an order, effective immediately, requisitioning ELSI's plant and related assets for six months. An administrative appeal brought against the order was not decided by the Prefect of Palermo until August 22, 1969. It was then held that the Mayor had exceeded his powers and that the requisition had been unlawful. In the meantime, the plant had been occupied and production had ceased. On April 26, 1968, ELSI filed petition in bankruptcy. A trustee was appointed. In July 1969, ELSI was purchased for far less than book value by a subsidiary of the State-controlled IRI. An action for damages resulting from the requisition was dismissed by the Court of Palermo. On appeal, the Court of Appeal of Palermo granted a small portion of the claims. This decision was upheld by the Court of Cassation in 1975. In 1974, the United States transmitted a note to Italy enclosing a claim on behalf of Raytheon, based on several alleged violations of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation concluded between Italy and the United States (FCN Treaty).

The United States application before the International Court of Justice was filed in 1987. According to the wishes of the parties, the case was submitted to and decided by a Chamber of the Court under Article 26(2) of the Statute of the Court.

Italy entered an objection to the admissibility of the present case on the ground of an alleged failure of the two United States corporations to exhaust local remedies. The United States questioned whether the rule of the exhaustion of local remedies could apply at all, as Article XXVI of the FCN Treaty was unqualified by any reference to the local remedies rule. The United States further argued that the local remedies rule was inapplicable in so far as its claim was for a declaratory judgment of a direct injury to the United States by infringement of its rights under the FCN Treaty. The Chamber rejected these arguments. The United States also observed that Italy, until the filing of the Counter-Memorial, had at no time suggested that Raytheon should sue in the Italian courts on the basis of the Treaty, and argued that this amounted to an estoppel. The Chamber, however, found that an estoppel cannot be derived from a mere failure to mention a matter at a particular point in diplomatic exchanges.

After examining the actions taken against the requisition order, the Chamber considered that the municipal courts had been fully seized of the matter which was the substance of the Applicant's claim before the Chamber. Furthermore, since it was for Italy to show the existence of a local remedy, and since Italy had not been able to satisfy the Chamber that there clearly remained some remedy which Raytheon, independently of ELSI, ought to have pursued and exhausted, the Chamber rejected the objection of non-exhaustion of local remedies.

As to the merits, the majority found that it had not been sufficiently established that an orderly liquidation of ELSI's assets would still have been feasible at the time of the requisition. The Chamber first observed that Article III of the Treaty, the right "to control and manage corporations", had not been violated, since it had not been established that the creditors would have given the company enough time for an orderly liquidation, or that the price obtainable on a quick sale would have been sufficient. The Chamber felt that since the feasibility of an orderly liquidation had not been sufficiently established, the requisition order could not interfere with control and management in any real sense. Thus the requisition, while unlawful, was not the cause of ELSI's bankruptcy.

The Chamber also dismissed the claim that Article V, paragraphs 1 and 3, of the FCN Treaty, which were concerned with the protection and security of nationals and their property, had been violated. According to the Chamber the toleration of the occupation of the plant by the workers did not cause any material harm to ELSI. The delay in the administrative appeal was not regarded as a denial of justice, since, under the Italian Law, there had been a means of requesting a quick decision.

The judgment further found that no taking without a due process of law had occurred contrary to Article V, paragraph 2, of the Treaty. The Chamber left the question open, whether the Italian term "espropriazione" should be interpreted in a stricter sense than the English term "taking". In that respect, the Chamber found that although a requisition could be an expropriation, it was not in the present case, since ELSI was already under an obligation to file for bankruptcy.

The Chamber also concluded that the requisition order had not violated Article I of the Supplementary Agreement to the FCN Treaty, which prohibited "arbitrary or discriminatory measures". According to the Chamber arbitrariness would require more than mere unlawfulness. But since the order was "consciously made in the context of an operating system of law and of appropriate remedies of appeal", it could hardly be an arbitrary act. Finally, the Chamber stated that the right to dispose of property and interests, guaranteed by Article VII of the FCN Treaty, had not been violated, since what really deprived the United States shareholders of their right to dispose of ELSI's real property was the precarious financial state of ELSI, which ultimately led to bankruptcy and thus prevented the shareholders from disposing of the company's property.

Having thus found that the Respondent, Italy, had not violated the FCN Treaty in the manner asserted by the Applicant, it follows that the Chamber rejected the claim for reparation made by the Applicant.