RTX (Raytheon)

RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies, holds the most extraordinary revolving door distinction in American government: both Trump's Secretary of Defense (Mark Esper, former Raytheon VP of Government Relations) and Biden's Secretary of Defense (Lloyd Austin, former Raytheon board member) came from the same company. When the person overseeing $800 billion in defense spending previously collected paychecks from the contractor receiving the largest share of those dollars, the concept of civilian oversight of the military becomes a formality. Esper served as Raytheon's VP of Government Relations — literally the company's chief lobbyist — before becoming Army Secretary and then Secretary of Defense. He was responsible for lobbying the very Pentagon he later led. Austin sat on Raytheon's board of directors, earning approximately $1.4 million in director fees and stock compensation before being nominated as SecDef. Despite pledging to recuse himself from Raytheon-related decisions, Austin's recusal was difficult to enforce given that Raytheon's products are involved in nearly every major weapons program. He did not fully divest his Raytheon stock during his tenure, maintaining a financial interest in the company he was supposed to oversee. RTX wields political power through scale. With $69 billion in annual revenue and 180,000 employees, the company produces Patriot missile systems, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and Pratt & Whitney engines that power most of America's military aircraft. Its products are so embedded in the military that any conflict anywhere in the world generates demand for RTX products. The Ukraine war consumed Patriot missile interceptors at a rate that required billions in new orders. The Israel-Gaza conflict increased demand for missile defense systems. Each crisis is a business opportunity, and RTX's lobbying operation ensures that the money flows. The company employs 60 registered lobbyists and has 48 documented revolving door connections with government. Its $10.5 million in 2024 lobbying and $5 million in political spending target the same Armed Services and Appropriations committee members as other defense contractors, creating a wall of defense industry influence around the committees that control military spending. RTX PAC donates bipartisanly, because defense spending is the one area where both parties compete to spend more. In 2024, RTX agreed to pay $950 million to settle federal bribery and fraud charges related to its government contracts — one of the largest defense contractor settlements in history. The charges included allegations that Raytheon employees bribed officials in Qatar and other countries to win defense contracts, and that the company defrauded the U.S. government on pricing. Despite this settlement — essentially admitting to systemic corruption — RTX continued to receive billions in new government contracts, demonstrating that defense contractors operate in a system where even criminal behavior doesn't result in meaningful consequences. RTX's Pratt & Whitney division produces the F135 engine for the F-35 and engines for numerous other military aircraft. This makes RTX a sole-source supplier for the most critical component of the most expensive weapons program in history, giving the company leverage that no amount of competition can erode. When you're the only company that can make the engine, you name your price.