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RTX Secures Contract to Support Maintenance of AESA Radar

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RTX Corporation (RTX - Free Report) clinched a contract involving active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for F/A-18 and EA-18G aircraft. The award has been offered by the Commander, Fleet Readiness Centers, Patuxent River, MD.

Details of the Deal

Valued at $19.2 million, the contract is expected to be completed by August 2028. Per the terms of the deal, RTX will provide engineering and technical services for the installation, operation and maintenance of the F/A-18 and EA-18G aircraft’s AESA. These services will be provided for training the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps' military and civilian personnel.

A major portion of the work related to this contract will be executed in Lemoore and Miramar, CA; Oceana, VA; and Beaufort, SC.

Radars & RTX

With the rapid escalation of geopolitical tensions globally in recent times, developed and developing nations have been boosting their defense arsenal significantly. Radars constitute a vital part of their defense equipment. While radars have been in use since World War II for locating threats and targets, they are being used today for multiple purposes like ground surveillance, missile control, fire control, air traffic control, moving target indication, weapons location and vehicle search.

Demand for military radar systems has expanded manifold in recent times, driven by factors like a rise in defense spending of emerging economies, an increase in regional tensions and inter-country conflicts that have boosted threats from missiles and aircraft. These, in turn, have been benefiting radar manufacturing companies like RTX Corporation in the form of contract wins like the latest one.

Notably, RTX’s product portfolio consists of varied radars like integrated air and missile defense radars, ballistic missile radars, surveillance radars as well as air dominance radars. Radars like AN-SPY 6, AN-TPY-2, APG-79 and APG-82 are some of its combat-proven products that enjoy solid demand in the global military radar market.

Growth Prospects

Per a report from the Markets and Markets firm, the global military radar market is expected to witness a CAGR of 4.7% during 2023-2027. Such growth projections for the market should benefit prominent radar manufacturers like RTX Corporation, Northrop Grumman (NOC - Free Report) , Lockheed Martin (LMT - Free Report) and L3Harris Technologies (LHX - Free Report) .

Notably, Northrop is a pioneer in AESA radars and has been at the forefront of AESA innovations for more than 60 years. The company’s broad portfolio of products comprises radars like AN/APG-83 scalable, agile beam radar, AN/ASQ-236 Dragon’s eye radar pod as well as AN/APG-81 and AN/APG-71 for F-35 and F-22 jets, respectively.

Northrop boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 4.1%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 sales indicates an improvement of 5.6% from the 2022 reported figure.

Lockheed’s radar systems offer advanced precision targeting, navigation, threat detection and next-generation intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Among LMT’s notable radar portfolio, the significant ones include SPY-7, AN/TPQ-53 radar system and AN/APY-9 radar.

LMT boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 6.5%. The company has a four-quarter average earnings surprise of 5.04%.

Similarly, L3Harris is the manufacturing company for AN/SPS-48G naval radar, Symphony Airfield Radar Systems, Tactical Air Surveillance radars and a few more.

L3Harris boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 3%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 sales indicates an improvement of 8.9% from the 2022 reported actual.

Price Performance

In the past year, RTX’s shares have lost 2.6% compared with the industry’s 6.4% decline.

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Zacks Rank

RTX carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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