Raytheon and United Technologies merger would create military-industrial
behemoth'
In
a move that immediately sparked concerns among anti-trust advocates, weapons
manufacturer Raytheon and aerospace giant United Technologies agreed Sunday to
a $120 billion merger that was described as one of the largest-ever
combinations of two defense contractors.
The
merger, if approved by the government and the two companies' shareholders,
would create what the Washington
Post described as a
"military-industrial behemoth" with the power to rival Lockheed
Martin, the world's largest defense contractor.
"The
company should be expected to make a strong play for the Defense Department's
emerging hypersonic missiles programs," the Post reported. "It also will give Raytheon a sizable
foothold in the commercial aerospace market for the first time in recent
memory. Before the combination, the lion's share of Raytheon's revenue came
from the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies."
On Twitter, anti-trust advocate Daniel Hanley said the United Technologies and Raytheon merger "should be dead on arrival."
In
an interview on CNBC Monday, President Donald Trump—otherwise a fan of large
weapons companies—also expressed concern about the proposed merger.
"When
I hear United and I hear Raytheon, when I hear they're merging, does that make
it less competitive? It's already not competitive," Trump said. "I
just want to see competition. They're two great companies, I love them both.
But I want to see that we don't hurt our competition."
EDITOR’S NOTE: Regardless of how you feel about military spending, this proposed deal could have an enormous impact on the RI economy. As WPRI reports: “Raytheon has been in Rhode Island since 1960 and currently employs 1,020 workers in Portsmouth, with an additional 100 jobs open…” In my opinion, it is a mistake for Rhode Island to be so dependent on war work, whether it’s Raytheon, Electric Boat or the many other military contractors in the state if for no other reason that it is so volatile. After all, not every President is as bellicose as Donald Trump (at least I would hope so). – Will Collette
Matt Stoller, fellow at the non-profit Open Markets Institute, said Trump is correct to raise anti-competition concerns over the proposed merger—while expressing skepticism that the president will hold to that position.
According
to an in-depth investigation by In
These Times published last month, Raytheon is one
of the major providers of missiles and other weaponry to Saudi Arabia, which—with
the backing of the United States—has been
waging a vicious assault on Yemen since 2015.
"Saudi
Arabia's precision-guided munitions are responsible for the vast majority of
deaths documented by human rights groups," In These Times found. "[S]ince 2009, Saudi Arabia has
ordered more than 27,000 missiles worth at least $1.8 billion from Raytheon
alone."
As Common Dreams reported, Trump is pushing to allow
Raytheon to build high-tech bomb parts in Saudi Arabia.
Critics
warned that such a move would hand Saudi Arabia the technological capacity to
build their own deadly high-tech weaponry, which the kingdom could use to ramp
up its bombing campaign in Yemen and continue fueling the world's worst
humanitarian crisis.
"Trump
backs Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen and sells them bombs they drop on
children," Sen. Bernie Sanders tweeted last week. "Now he wants
Raytheon to help Saudis develop their own weapons. Congress must stop this
president from doing the bidding of the arms industry and this brutal
regime."
