Raytheon: Difference between revisions

Early in [[World War II]], [[physicist]]s in the United Kingdom invented the [[magnetron]], a specialized [[microwave]]-generating electron tube that markedly improved the capability of radar to detect enemy aircraft. American companies were then sought by the US government to perfect and [[mass-produce]] the magnetron for ground-based, airborne, and shipborne radar systems, and, with support from the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]'s [[Radiation Laboratory]] (recently formed to investigate [[microwave radar]]), Raytheon received a contract to build the devices. Within a few month, Raytheon began to manufacture [[magnetron]] tubes for use in radar sets, and then complete [[radar system]]s. During the war, Raytheon also pioneered the production of shipboard radar systems, particularly for submarine detection. Raytheon was also a contractor for the mass-production of miniature [[Toughness|shock-resistant]] vacuum tubes used in [[Proximity fuze|proximity fuse]]s. These tubes were difficult to manufacture and required rigorous attention to detail.<ref>Holmes, Jamie. ''12 Seconds Of Silence: How a Team of Inventors, Tinkerers, and Spies Took Down a Nazi Superweapon.'' Mariner Books, 2020, 416 pp.</ref> At war's end in 1945, the company had built about 80 percent of all magnetrons. Raytheon ranked 71st among U.S. corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts.<ref>[[Whiz Kids (Department of Defense)|Peck, Merton J.]] & [[Frederic M. Scherer|Scherer, Frederic M.]] ''The Weapons Acquisition Process: An Economic Analysis'' (1962) [[Harvard Business School]] p.619</ref>