Raytheon

Raytheon is the defense systems division of RTX Corporation, the American aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, formed in April 2020 through the merger of Raytheon Company (founded 1922 in Cambridge, Massachusetts) and United Technologies Corporation. RTX was renamed from Raytheon Technologies in July 2023 and reported approximately $80.8 billion in annual revenue for 2024, employing roughly 195,000 people worldwide across its three principal segments: Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon.

The Raytheon segment is the primary locus of autonomous systems and defense robotics activities:

Coyote Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS): Raytheon's Coyote is a tube-launched, small expendable or reusable unmanned aerial vehicle capable of operating individually or in autonomous networked swarms. Launched from a sonobuoy-compatible canister with self-deploying wings, the Coyote can fly for up to one hour with interchangeable payloads across intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), electronic warfare, communications relay, and kinetic strike missions. Key variants include:

• Coyote Block 2C Interceptor: US Army C-UAS effector; 600-unit $75M contract awarded in 2024.
• Coyote Block 3 Non-Kinetic (NK): Reusable variant demonstrating autonomous defeat of multiple drone swarms in 2026 US Army demonstrations.
• Coyote LE SR (Launched Effect): Part of a family of launched effects for reconnaissance, surveillance and target acquisition, electronic warfare, and precision strike.
• Helicopter-launched Coyote variant: Demonstrated in 2025.

Counter-UAS (C-UAS) systems: Raytheon integrates the Coyote with the Ku-band Radio Frequency System (KuRFS) radar for the LIDS (Low, slow, small UAS Integrated Defeat System) and FAAD C2 architecture used by the US Army.

Autonomous Maritime Defense: In February 2026, DARPA selected Raytheon to develop an advanced sensing and targeting system for defense of naval vessels against unmanned surface vehicles (USVs), deploying sensors via tethered drones connected to a semi-autonomous unmanned platform.

DeepFires Autonomous Launcher: Forterra (an RTX collaborative partner), Raytheon, and Oshkosh showcased the DeepFires autonomous rocket launcher prototype at AUSA 2025, demonstrating autonomous ground vehicle integration for precision fires.

Beyond autonomous platforms, Raytheon manufactures Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems, AIM-9X Sidewinder and AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, and StormBreaker smart weapons, all of which incorporate advanced guidance autonomy.