During the Cold War, companies that are now part of Raytheon were awarded billions of dollars in contracts for weapons designed to destroy Russian strategic bombers. Hundreds of F-102 and F-106 interceptors, with Hughes radars and missiles, stood alert in the northern U.S. for decades, waiting for warnings from Raytheon radars. The attack never came and (unless there is some Cold War history we don't know about yet) not one Russian heavy bomber was destroyed.

Now, Raytheon will destroy Russian-built bombers--under contract and with the full cooperation of their owners. The U.S. Defense Special Weapons Agency has awarded Raytheon a $7.2-million contract to manage the decommissioning and scrapping of 25 Tu-95MS Bear-H and 19 Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers, along with 1,068 air-launched cruise missiles, which have been located in the Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

By Bill Sweetman