RAYTHEON

The fifth largest military contractor in the world, Raytheon obtains more than 90% of its $22 billion in revenues from defense contracts. Among the missiles produced by Raytheon are the Patriot, Tomahawk, Maverick and Sidewinder. Raytheon has been involved in numerous controversies and lawsuits in recent years, including illegally obtaining classified documents, disputed claims about the Patriot Missile’s accuracy, and charges of influence peddling. The company contributed almost $1 million to various political campaigns in 2004, and spent far more than that on lobbying.

1. Raytheon is responsible for producing the missile that caused an explosion in the Baghdad market place that left 62 Iraqi civilians dead in April 2003. The device is thought to have been a Harm (High Speed Anti-Radiation Missile) device or a Paveway laser-guided bomb that, despite claims by Raytheon that their anti-radar missiles demonstrate “reliability four times better than specification” suffered an error in accuracy that lead to the unnecessary death of innocent civilians.

2. Raytheon has paid over $12 million in fines for illegal activities. The company faced a series of suits from 1992 to1994 for overcharging the U.S. government for missile and radar contracts. Also, in March 1990, Raytheon pleaded guilty to illegally obtaining secret Air Force planning and budget documents. These are just a few examples of the many law suits Raytheon has faced over the past two decades.

3. In 1977 during the “dirty war” in Argentina Raytheon subsidiary, E-Systems, supplied remote control detonated explosives labeled “Wheelbarrow” systems to the Argentine police. E-Systems is a secretive branch of Raytheon that largely serves the CIA. During that same time period, E-Systems won a contract to maintain airplanes for the Operation Condor anti-drug operation in Sinaloa, Mexico.

Corporation Website: www.raytheon.com

CEO: William H. Swanson

Corporate Headquarters: Waltham, Massachusetts