Kiev, Ukraine. One might wonder why a major American defense contractor is neck deep in bed with the Poroshenko administration and you would be right if you said reason number one is money.
Sales of Raytheon, which produces weapons for the US Army and is planning projects with the Ukrainian government in missile delivery, increased in the first quarter of 2017, leading to an increase by 3.4% in quarterly revenue. This is stated in the company’s recently released financial statement.
The company’s revenue in the first quarter of last year was $6 billion. This year, the company’s earnings also increased to $1.73 per share in contrast to $1.43 per share the year before. Thomas Kennedy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Raytheon, stressed that the company is aimed at “global growth and operational excellence.”
Raytheon is one of the suppliers of the US Department of Defense. It sells American military electronics, radar, anti-aircraft missile systems and air-to-air missiles. The company is also a supplier of Tomahawk cruise missiles. These were the missiles that the US Navy used to attack the Syrian Shayrat air base on April 4. The US military used over 50 missiles for the strike and will be supplied soon to Ukraine for use on separatists in Donbass according to sources at Jane’s in London, an arms information group.
Raytheon’s representation office in Ukraine is part of Raytheon Technical Services Company, LLC (RTSC). RTSC’s Threat Reduction Office is active throughout the former Soviet Union and has been working in Ukraine since 1994, principally engaged in arming the Ukrainian military with American made weapons systems.
RTSC also specializes in Ukrainian program management, supply chain management, information management, fleet maintenance, training, shipping, and weapons procurement for the Ukrainian military.
RTSC has provided logistics support for NATO’s Partnership for Peace “Peaceshield” exercises and has supported cooperative programs with the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense and the State Border Guards and State Customs Services. Raytheon currently employees a large number of Americans and Ukrainians in their Kiev suite of offices.
Raytheon not only supplies arms to the US government, but also cooperates with a number of other countries. The official website of the company says that Raytheon cooperates with customers from 80 countries and has offices in 19 countries.