Raytheon sees growing opportunities in the region

Abu Dhabi: Raytheon, one of the top defence firms in the world sees growing opportunities in the region and has opened its new office in Abu Dhabi to cater to the demand.

“We continue to see growing opportunities, certainly with the regional instability and things that are happening in the area,” said Alan Davis, chief executive of Raytheon Emirates speaking to Gulf News in an interview on Tuesday.

“One of the things is that we want to make sure that we continue to maintain our presence here and be partners with the UAE and other regional customers to provide that stability in terms of security.”

Raytheon signed two big contracts with the UAE Armed Forces during the ongoing International Defence Exhibition at Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre.

One contract worth Dh5.7 billion was related to providing a platform for launching Patriot missiles and a Dh1.3 billion deal for purchasing Patriot missiles for the UAE air force.

“We are certainly fortunate to have been successful in the UAE and a significant part of that success has been our commitment and the partnership that we had in the UAE.”

“Also the breadth and diversity of the portfolio of systems and solutions that we offer has provided regional stability in the UAE and in the region. We are extremely proud of the success we had here, based on our relationships and proven performance.”

The company headquartered in Massachusetts in the US has been in the UAE for thirty years supporting the country’s defence industry. The company officially inaugurated its Raytheon Emirates office at Abu Dhabi Global Market square this week.

The new facility will help Raytheon Emirates develop human capital, industrial partnerships and new technology in the UAE in the areas of missile defence, cybersecurity, effectors, and other enabling technologies.

“We have a strong international portfolio and certainly the UAE is one of our focused countries and having a landed company here in Abu Dhabi can provide us the opportunity to grow our business and have future sales.”

About 130 employees will be supporting various programmes, systems and solutions across the UAE.

Raytheon had $27 billion (Dh99 billion) in sales in 2018 with 30 per cent of that being international sales. The defence firm also opened Raytheon Saudi Arabia last year to grow its presence in the region.