Known as a supplier of sensor and control systems, Raytheon sees the expanding unmanned aircraft market as an opportunity to graduate to the coveted prime contractor role. But it is the company’s long heritage in the missile business, rather than its past involvement in aircraft manufacturing, that is providing the springboard.

“When you start to get into large wingspans, you are in the aircraft business. But when you get smaller it’s not an aircraft business, it’s a missile business,” says Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson. “We’re a missile house and we understand the airframe and aerodynamics as things get smaller.” He cites Raytheon’s Miniature Air-Launched Decoy, Tomahawk cruise missile and KillerBee as unmanned systems that are “right in our wheelhouse.”

Raytheon’s Missile Systems business in Tucson, Ariz., is lead on the KillerBee small tactical unmanned aircraft system, its first effort to act as integrator and bring together capabilities across the company, from ground control systems to miniature munitions. But the company has its sights set on a bigger prize—prime contractor for the follow-on to the U.S. Air Force’s MQ-1 Predator and MQ-9 Reaper, the MQ-X.

The initial capabilities document for MQ-X has been ­completed, and the requirements are now working their way through the Pentagon. An analysis of alternatives should be completed by the end of next year. Raytheon has already produced a number of conceptual designs for MQ-X, but will face stiff competition from the traditional unmanned and manned aircraft primes.

With the electro-optical/infrared sensor market for U.S. UAVs forecast to be worth $1.8 billion over 10 years, while the overall unmanned aircraft systems market is projected to almost double to $8.7 billion over the same period, the pull to platforms is inevitable. But Swanson says Raytheon has to avoid becoming focused on the vehicle. “We really have to be platform-agnostic in our business,” he says. “If we get trapped into thinking about the platform, it becomes the answer to everything.”

Looking ahead, Swanson sees more unmanned technologies being incorporated into missiles and more missiles being integrated on to unmanned aircraft. He sees unmanned applications for the company’s electronic-intelligence, signals-intelligence and electronic-warfare systems.

Sensor and control systems remain at the heart of the company’s thinking. On the controls side, the focus is on ground stations able to control multiple aircraft types simultaneously. On the sensor side, Raytheon is focusing on lighter, higher reliability and more conformal active electronically scanned array radars and smaller, higher-resolution, multi-color EO/IR sensors. “Sensors never go away, manned or unmanned” says Swanson.

Photo credit: Raytheon