What Is RTX (Raytheon)? The Company Behind Patriot, the F135 Engine, and the Tomahawk Missile

RTX Corporation reported $80.7 billion in 2024 sales — edging out Lockheed Martin to claim the title of the world’s largest defense and aerospace company. It makes the only engine that powers every F-35 on Earth, the world’s most widely deployed surface-to-air missile system, and the cruise missile that has defined Western long-range strike for four decades.

Company Overview

RTX Corporation was formed on April 3, 2020 through the merger of United Technologies Corporation’s (UTC) aerospace businesses and Raytheon Company. The combined entity initially traded as Raytheon Technologies Corporation before rebranding to RTX Corporation in July 2023. The deal brought together two storied American industrial legacies: Raytheon, founded in Massachusetts in 1922 and famous for radar and missile systems, and UTC’s aerospace divisions — engine-maker Pratt & Whitney and avionics giant Collins Aerospace.

Three Segments, One Giant

The $218 billion backlog is split 57% commercial and 43% defense — a structural advantage that cushions the company against defense budget fluctuations better than pure-play defense peers like Lockheed Martin or Northrop Grumman.

Product Portfolio

F135 Engine — The Sole Powerplant of the Global F-35 Fleet

Pratt & Whitney’s F135 is the only engine certified for all three F-35 variants. The alternative — GE’s F136 — was cancelled by Congress in 2011. A more recent competitor, GE’s XA100 adaptive engine from the AETP program, was closed out in March 2023 because it could not support the F-35B STOVL variant. The result: Pratt & Whitney has a structural monopoly on the propulsion of every F-35 built, anywhere in the world.

Numbers tell the story: more than 1,300 F135 engines delivered to a 20-nation enterprise, over one million engine flight hours, 40,000+ pounds of thrust. The F135 Engine Core Upgrade (ECU) — the only upgrade applicable to all three variants — cleared preliminary design review in July 2024. Congress fully funded the ECU at $497 million in FY2024, enabling retrofits across the entire fielded fleet.

Patriot Air and Missile Defense

Patriot is the world’s most widely deployed land-based air and missile defense system, operated by more than 18 nations. In the Patriot ecosystem, RTX produces the PAC-2 GEM-T interceptor while Lockheed Martin produces the PAC-3 MSE — both can be fired from the same launcher.

In August 2025, the Defense Logistics Agency awarded RTX a landmark $50 billion indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity sustainment contract covering Patriot hardware, software, spare parts, and maintenance through July 31, 2045 — the largest single defense sustainment contract in history. This 20-year sole-source deal locks in RTX’s Patriot revenue stream through 2045 regardless of annual budget politics.

LTAMDS

The Lower Tier Air and Missile Defense Sensor (LTAMDS) is Raytheon’s next-generation 360-degree active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, designed to replace Patriot’s aging AN/MPQ-65 radar. The U.S. Army awarded the LTAMDS contract to Raytheon in 2020. Unlike the legacy radar’s 120-degree field, LTAMDS provides simultaneous omnidirectional coverage, critical against hypersonic glide vehicles that approach from unexpected vectors.

AIM-120 AMRAAM

The Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) is the standard beyond-visual-range air-to-air weapon for more than 40 air forces. It is also used in ground-launched form in the NASAMS air defense system. The February 2026 production framework targets at least 1,900 AMRAAMs per year — a dramatic increase driven by Ukraine war depletion and NATO rearmament orders.

Tomahawk

The BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile has been the U.S. Navy’s and Royal Navy’s primary long-range precision strike weapon since the 1980s. With a range exceeding 1,000 miles, Tomahawk can be launched from surface ships and submarines. Poland signed a contract for Tomahawks in recent years, marking its entry into the ranks of Tomahawk operators. The February 2026 framework targets production of more than 1,000 Tomahawks per year.

SM-3 and SM-6

The Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) is the sea-based ballistic missile interceptor at the heart of the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense system. SM-3 Block IIA was jointly developed with Japan and has achieved exo-atmospheric intercepts of ballistic missiles in numerous tests. The SM-6 is a multi-mission weapon capable of engaging air targets, ballistic missiles in their terminal phase, and surface targets. The February 2026 framework targets more than 500 SM-6 missiles per year.

Collins Aerospace

Collins Aerospace is RTX’s largest segment by revenue but its least publicly visible. The business spans military avionics (including F-35 systems), aircraft interiors, landing gear, pilot life support, electronic warfare, and communications. Collins equipment flies in virtually every Western military aircraft. It also supplies crew systems, ejection seats, and unmanned systems components across multiple NATO programs.

Turkey: A Two-Front Crisis

RTX’s relationship with Turkey is defined by two intertwined crises, each with multi-billion-dollar implications.

Crisis one — F135 supply chain: Turkish manufacturers supplied 188 components for the F135 engine — described by Pratt & Whitney leadership as “some of the most critical parts.” Turkey’s expulsion from the F-35 program in July 2019 following S-400 acceptance forced Pratt & Whitney to re-qualify all 188 parts with new suppliers, adding 3% to the F135’s unit cost according to congressional testimony from April 2021. By that date, 75% of the Turkish parts had been successfully re-qualified.

Crisis two — KAAN engine: Turkey’s domestically developed KAAN fighter jet requires the General Electric F110 engine for its initial production blocks. U.S. Congress has repeatedly blocked or stalled F110 export licenses, citing S-400-related national security concerns and intellectual property protection. While the F110 is a GE product rather than an RTX product, the stalemate reflects the broader impasse in Turkey’s relationship with American defense industry that directly affects RTX’s potential future business in Turkey.

Future Programs

RTX is competing on two critical future programs. First, Pratt & Whitney is bidding its adaptive engine technology for the Next Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) program’s propulsion contract, competing directly against GE Aerospace. Winning would secure decades of work on the Air Force’s next manned combat aircraft; losing would mark a historic setback for P&W in military aviation.

Second, Raytheon is developing the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI) to defeat hypersonic glide vehicles in their glide phase — one of the most technically challenging defense problems in the world. On the offensive side, the Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) program is underway. Raytheon is also investing in high-energy laser systems and directed energy weapons for C-UAS (counter-unmanned aerial systems) applications.

Strengths and Risks

Strengths

• Commercial/defense balance: 57/43 backlog split provides stability that pure-defense peers lack
• F135 monopoly: Single-source propulsion for the world’s largest fighter program
• Patriot lock-in: $50B 20-year sustainment contract is essentially guaranteed revenue through 2045
• Scale: At $80.7B, RTX is the world’s largest defense-aerospace company by revenue

Risks

• GTF engine issues: PW1000G powder metal contamination recalls cost billions and damaged Pratt & Whitney’s commercial reputation
• NGAD engine competition: Losing to GE Aerospace on NGAD propulsion would cede the Air Force’s next-generation combat engine
• Turkey entanglement: S-400 fallout and KAAN engine crisis create ongoing uncertainty in a historically significant market

Sources

• RTX Full-Year 2024 Financial Results — Official earnings release, January 2025
• F135 Engine Product Page — Pratt & Whitney official site
• February 2026 Production Framework Agreements — RTX press release
• F135 Engine Core Upgrade — Pratt & Whitney product page

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