RTX subsidiary lands $118M Army contract

The U.S. Army has finalized a contract potentially worth $118 million with Arlington County-based Raytheon, a subsidiary of RTX, to produce common sensor payloads, which will serve as “eyes” for an uncrewed aircraft system, the government announced Tuesday. 

The common sensor payloads, which will be used on California-based General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ MQ-1C Gray Eagle, will offer day and night high-definition imagery as well as targeting capability for laser-guided munitions, according to a U.S. Army’s statement

Under the undefinitized contract action, the new common sensor payloads will also offer target location accuracy capability, which enables “precision, near-real-time engagements with coordinate-seeking weapons by reducing the sensor-to-shooter process from minutes to seconds,” the U.S. Army explained.  

Raytheon will produce the third version of the Common Sensor Payload. Since the CSP was first developed in 2011, previous versions have been used in more than a million flight hours on the Gray Eagle for U.S. Army units worldwide. 

“The CSP v3 is the latest iteration of the CSP, which resolves several critical subcomponent obsolescence issues present on the currently fielded CSP v2 and incorporates updated sensor hardware to provide enhanced imaging capabilities,” Doug Haskin, product manager of the U.S. Army’s Office of Aerial Enhanced Radars, Optics, and Sensors, said in the release. 

The U.S. Army awarded Raytheon initial partial funding for CSP v3 production in June of 2023, allowing Raytheon to begin work. The CSP v3 production systems are expected to begin delivering in June 2025, with a first unit equipped date planned for FY 2026, according to the U.S. Army.

Raytheon rebranded as RTX in June of 2023, a year after moving to headquarters to Arlington County. It has three subsidiaries: Collins Aerospace, an aerospace and defense technology supplier with headquarters in Charlotte, N.C.; Pratt & Whitney, an aerospace manufacturer with headquarters in Connecticut and Raytheon, which was formerly Raytheon Intelligence & Space and Raytheon Missiles & Defense.

RTX, which is also based in Arlington County, has more than 185,000 employees.