A sign marks the Raytheon offices in Woburn, Massachusetts, U.S. January 25, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

(Reuters) - Raytheon Co (RTN.N) on Thursday won the dismissal of a $1 billion whistleblower lawsuit accusing the defense contractor of overbilling the U.S. government on a contract for satellite sensors, nearly 1-1/2 years after a federal appeals court revived the case.

U.S. District Judge Otis Wright in Los Angeles said Steven Mateski, an engineer who worked for Raytheon from 1997 to 2006, failed to adequately allege that the Waltham, Massachusetts-based company submitted a false claim, or that its actions were material to the government’s payment decisions.

A lawyer for Mateski did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the False Claims Act case, which began in 2006. Raytheon did not immediately respond to a similar request.

Mateski had accused Raytheon of mismanaging a subcontract to develop a weather sensor for the National Polar-Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS), on which Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N) held the main contract.

In March 2016, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Mateski’s claims went beyond known problems in developing the NPOESS, which suffered from delays and cost overruns, and overturned Wright’s dismissal of the case three years earlier.

But in Thursday’s decision, Wright said Mateski’s fraud allegations remained too general, and his “barebones” allegations regarding materiality also required dismissal.

Wright pointed to Raytheon’s counterargument that any alleged misrepresentations were not material to the government’s payment decisions, given how the government kept paying its invoices long after being alerted to alleged suspect claims.

Mateski had amended his complaint five times, and Wright said he would not permit a sixth amended complaint.

False Claims Act cases let whistleblowers pursue claims on behalf of the government and share in recoveries. The United States decided in 2012 not to help Mateski pursue his case. </s> Law360, Nashville (August 24, 2017, 7:04 PM EDT) -- The U.S. Air Force announced late Wednesday it had awarded a pair of $900 million deals to Lockheed Martin Corp. and Raytheon Co. to help develop its new nuclear cruise missile, putting them in competition for a final production contract.



Lockheed and Raytheon were both awarded roughly $900 million deals to support the technology maturation and risk reduction phase for the long-range standoff weapon, or LRSO, the intended replacement for the AGM-86B air-launched cruise missile, or ALCM, the Air Force said Wednesday.



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To view the full article, register now. </s> (Reuters) - United Technologies Corp agreed on Sunday to combine its aerospace business with U.S. defense contractor Raytheon Co and create a new company worth more than $120 billion, in what would be the industry’s biggest ever merger.

The deal would reshape the competitive landscape by forming a conglomerate which spans commercial aviation and defense equipment. United Technologies provides primarily commercial plane makers with electronics, communications and other equipment, whereas Raytheon mainly supplies the U.S. government with military aircraft and missile equipment.

Raytheon shareholders will receive 2.3348 shares in the combined company for each Raytheon share, the companies said in a statement. The merger is expected to result in more than $1 billion in cost synergies by the end of the fourth year.

United Technologies shareholders will own about 57% of the combined business, called Raytheon Technologies Corporation, which will be led by Greg Hayes, the current chief executive of United Technologies. Raytheon shareholders will own the remaining stake, and Raytheon CEO Tom Kennedy will be named executive chairman.

United Technologies and Raytheon have market capitalizations of $114 billion and $52 billion, respectively.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2020, following the previously announced spin-off of United Technologies’ Carrier air conditioning and Otis elevator businesses.

The newly created company is expected to return between $18 billion and $20 billion of capital to shareholders in the first three years after the deal’s completion, the companies said. The new company will also assume about $26 billion in net debt, they added.

Raytheon, maker of the Tomahawk and the Patriot missile systems, and other U.S. military contractors are expected to benefit from strong global demand for fighter jets and munitions as well as higher U.S. defense spending in fiscal 2020, a lot of it driven by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration.

However, Pentagon spending is projected to slow down after an initial boost under Trump. A deal with United Technologies would allow Raytheon to expand into commercial aviation, which does not rely on government spending like the defense sector.

United Technologies could benefit from reducing its exposure to commercial aerospace clients amid concerns that the rise of international trade protectionism will weigh on the flow of goods through air traffic.

The International Air Transport Association, which represents about 290 carriers accounting for more than 80% of global air traffic, cited these concerns earlier this month, when it said the industry is expected to post a $28 billion profit in 2019, down from a December forecast of $35.5 billion. </s> TUCSON, Ariz. (Tribune News Service) — Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $900 million contract to develop the nation’s next-generation air-launched nuclear cruise missile.

Frequent competitor Lockheed Martin was awarded a similar, 54-month contract to develop design concepts and technologies for the new Long Range Standoff weapon, the Air Force said Wednesday.

When those contracts are completed, the Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida will select a single contractor to further develop and produce the new weapon.

The contract awards were a blow to defense and aerospace giant Boeing, which has produced the current AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile since the 1980s.

Raytheon will perform work on the cruise-missile contract in Tucson, according to a Pentagon contract notice. The company already makes the Navy’s Tomahawk cruise missile and a variety of major missile systems in Tucson.

A spokesman for Raytheon declined to comment on the contract announcement.

The Air Force says the contract awards keep the program on track to replace the aging AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile with modernized weapon capabilities designed for its nuclear bomber fleet, including the future B-21 strategic stealth bomber.

“This weapon will modernize the air-based leg of the nuclear triad,” Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson said in the announcement. “Deterrence works if our adversaries know that we can hold at risk things they value. This weapon will enhance our ability to do so, and we must modernize it cost-effectively.”

The current Air Launched Cruise Missile was first fielded in the early 1980s with a 10-year design life, the Air Force said.

Under the contracts, Raytheon and Lockheed must develop the new missile technologies and demonstrate the reliability and maintainability of a replacement weapon, the Air Force said, noting that the aging AGM-86B “will continue to face increasingly significant operational challenges against emerging threats and reliability challenges until replaced.”

The Air Force wants to start fielding the Long Range Standoff Weapon in the late 2020s.

In May, Air Force Global Strike Command commander Gen. Robin Rand told the House Armed Services Committee’s Strategic Forces Subcommittee that the new missile will ensure the U.S. strategic bomber force “continues to hold high-value targets at risk in an evolving threat environment, including targets deep within an area-denied environment.”

Raytheon has a long history of developing cruise missiles, which generally fly low to avoid radar. The new missile is expected to have additional radar-evading “stealth” characteristics, though full requirements remain classified.

The company recently marked its 4,000th delivery to the Navy of the latest-generation Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile. The Tomahawk is carried aboard about 140 warships and submarines and has been fired more than 2,300 times in combat, including recent strikes in Syria and Yemen.

Raytheon inherited another nuclear cruise missile program in 1997 when it acquired the aerospace and defense business of Hughes Aircraft Corp., including the AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile.

The low-observable, or “stealthy” air-launched cruise missile was originally designed and built by General Dynamics and was carried by the Air Force’s B-52H Stratofortress bombers. But production was cut back starting in 1993 and the AGM-129 was phased out of service by 2012.

For its part, Lockheed Martin makes the conventionally armed AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, a stealthy, air-launched cruise missile fitted on a variety of U.S. bombers and fighters.

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 Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. </s> Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) and Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) are awarded initial contracts of $900M each by the U.S. Air Force to begin development of a new nuclear cruise missile for long-range bombers.

The initial contracts cover a four-and-a-half year phase to refine designs and prove out technologies for the Long-Range Standoff missile; the Air Force later will pick one of the contractors for full production of as many as 1,000 missiles - not all of them topped by nuclear warheads - in an acquisition phase valued at ~$10B.

The decision is a defeat for Boeing (NYSE:BA), which in the 1980s developed and fielded the AGM-86B Air Launched Cruise Missile now in use. </s> United Technologies Corp. agreed to buy Raytheon Co. in an all stock deal, forming an aerospace and defense giant with US$74 billion in sales through one of the industry’s biggest deals ever.

The new entity will be called Raytheon Technologies Corp., the companies said in a statement Sunday. The combination, which they are billing as a merger of equals, will take place in the first half of 2020 after United Technologies’ planned spinoff of its Otis elevator and Carrier air-conditioner businesses.

“The combination of United Technologies and Raytheon will define the future of aerospace and defense,” United Technologies Chief Executive Officer Greg Hayes said in the statement. He will hold that same role in the combined organization, while Raytheon CEO Thomas Kennedy will become chairman, the companies said.

Under terms, Raytheon shareowners will receive 2.3348 shares in the combined company for each Raytheon share they hold. When the dust settles, United Technologies shareowners will own approximately 57% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis and Raytheon shareowners will own approximately 43%. Raytheon will hold seven of the 15 board positions.

The blockbuster deal caps a dramatic revamp of United Technologies under Hayes, who took the reins at the industrial conglomerate in 2014 with a vow to pursue big transactions. Along with last year’s $23 billion acquisition of aircraft-parts supplier Rockwell Collins, the Raytheon deal remakes United Technologies as an aerospace behemoth with products including jet engines, missiles, cockpit electronics and radars.

Both companies advanced more than 20% this year through June 7, in line with a Standard & Poor’s index of aerospace and defense manufacturers.

Greater heft would enhance the ability of United Technologies to withstand cost pressures from customers such as Boeing Co. and Airbus SE, said Douglas Rothacker, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. Another crucial customer is the U.S. Department of Defense.

“Aerospace suppliers have been, and will continue to be, under immense pressure from Boeing and Airbus to cut costs,” Rothacker said. “We’ve seen consolidation in the sector as a way to counter these pricing and competitive pressures, and also diversify to add revenue streams.”

Another wildcard in winning approval for the deal: the U.S. Department of Defense. Hayes spurned a merger offer from Honeywell International Inc. in 2016, saying the deal undervalued his company and would face customer opposition. At the time, Wall Street analysts anticipated resistance from the Pentagon, as well as planemakers. </s> Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and federal regulators have reached a tentative agreement to resolve a series of disputes over pacts to delay the sale of cheaper generic drugs.

The proposed settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which would resolve three complaints, essentially extends and tightens restrictions under a 2015 settlement and resets the clock so that restrictions remain in place for 10 years from the date of the revised agreement.

Teva won't pay any additional money beyond the $1.2 billion in relief for overpayment as part of the 2015 settlement.

"This broad settlement prevents the world's largest manufacturer of generic drugs from entering into collusive agreements that prevent price competition by keeping generic drugs off the market," FTC Chairman Joe Simons said in a statement.

So-called "reverse-payment" or "pay-for-delay" settlements involve a branded drug company that pays or gives some kind of inducement to another company to delay sales of a generic. The FTC says such deals cost consumers and taxpayers some $3.5 billion a year.

Under the terms of the agreement, subject to court approval, the FTC would ask the court to dismiss Teva from two lawsuits over AndroGel, a popular testosterone replacement drug.

The FTC would also ask Teva be dismissed from another lawsuit involving Lidoderm lidocaine patch.

The 2015 settlement agreement over delayed competing versions of sleep-disorder drug Provigil marked the first time the U.S. agency obtained monetary remedies for drug purchasers in a "pay for delay" case. </s> (Hatha al-Youm | Iraq News )- Raytheon and United Technologies will join to create amassive aerospace and defense company in a sector that is already rapidlyconsolidating.The combined company, which will count among its portfolioof weaponry the F-35 fighter jet engines, Patriot and Tomahawk missile systemsin addition to space suits and intelligence technology as well as Pratt &Whitney engines used in both commercial and military aircraft, anticipatesannual revenue of $74 billion if approved.That means it still trails Boeing Co. in heft, but the dealmay give the soon to be renamed Raytheon Technologies Corp. leverage withsuppliers and contractors over other heavyweights in the industry like LockheedMartin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp.Costs for the company could eventually be trimmed by $1billion each year as it strips away duplicative functions.The combined company would be valued at well over $100billion even after United Technologies completes the planned spin-off of a goodchunk of its commercial, industrial wing. The deal is expected to close in thefirst half of 2020, after those assets are shed by United Technologies.“The combination of United Technologies and Raytheon willdefine the future of aerospace and defense,” said Greg Hayes, UnitedTechnologies chairman and CEO, who will become the CEO of the combined company.The companies will push to develop new technologies morequickly with combined R&D spending of $8 billion annually and more than60,000 engineers. Raytheon Technologies will focus on hypersonics — vehicles orweapons which can fly five times faster than the speed of sound — as well asintelligence and surveillance systems, artificial intelligence for commercialaviation and cybersecurity for connected planes.The deal would push United Technologies further from thecyclical nature of its commercial businesses, and more deeply into the defensesector.Industry analysts saw fewer advantages for Raytheon, butnoted that it has ensured that it is not left behind in the push to grow biggerin aerospace and defense.“The rationale seems to address (United Technologies’) needsmore than Raytheon’s, unless this was also about simply finding the bestpartner in a consolidating space,” wrote Joseph DeNardi, a defense analyst withStifel. “A scenario whereby Raytheon would be competing longer-term againstLockheed Martin and a combined Northrop + (United Technologies) may have beenan unacceptable outcome of consolidation for Raytheon.”DeNardi also once saw Boeing as the likely buyer ofRaytheon, but said it may have been hobbled by the grounding of its fleet ofits 737 Max aircraft.Raytheon shareholders will receive 2.33 shares in the newcompany for each Raytheon share. Once the merger is complete, UnitedTechnologies shareholders will own approximately 57% of the company; Raytheonshareholders will own the rest.Two years after the deal closes, Hayes will also becomechairman. Until then, Raytheon Chairman and CEO Tom Kennedy will be theexecutive chairman. The company’s board will have eight directors from UnitedTechnologies and seven from Raytheon.Both executives said Monday that there is little overlapbetween the companies and that they do not anticipate pushback fromanti-monopoly regulators.However, President Donald Trump voiced concerns about thedeal when he phoned in to the CNBC early Monday.“When I hear they’re merging... does that take away morecompetition?” asked Trump. “It becomes one big, fat beautiful company, but Ihave to negotiate, meaning the United States has to buy things. Does that makeit less competitive?”In 2018 there were eight mergers in defense and aerospaceexceeding $1 billion in value, including an all-stock deal between L3Technologies and Harris, and General Dynamics’ acquisition of CSRA Inc.,according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.Raytheon Co., is based in Waltham, Massachusetts. UnitedTechnologies Corp., based in Farmington, Connecticut. Raytheon Technologieswill be based near Boston.Shares of Raytheon rose about 2% early Monday, a day afterthe deal was announced. United Technologies fell 2%. </s> MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th August, 2019) The Russian leasing company - Avia Capital Services - filed a lawsuit against the Boeing aircraft manufacturer to break the contract on deliveries of 35 Boeing 737 Max jets as these types of planes were worldwide grounded over security concerns.

The Russian firm, which is a subsidiary of the Russian Rostec state corporation, said that the two deadly plane crashes, involving Boeing 737 Max jets, had happened because of the "negligent actions and decisions of Boeing" both in designing the aircraft and "withholding critical information" from the US aviation safety authorities, the Financial Times newspaper reported.

The lawsuit was reportedly filed to the Cook County circuit court in Chicago. The Russian company accuses Boeing of intentionally hiding sensitive safety information about the aircraft so that the jets were purchased by customers.

Avia Capital Services says it has given Boeing a cash deposit of $35 million as part of the order and asks the money to be returned with interest along with $75 million in lost profits.

The total sum demanded by the company under the lawsuit amounts to $115 million.

Two Boeing 737 MAX planes have crashed in less than a year: one in Indonesia in October 2018 and another in Ethiopia in March. In the wake of the latest crash, aviation authorities and carriers around the world have either grounded all 737 MAX series aircraft, or closed their airspace to them.

The investigations into the incidents are underway but experts believe that a new automated stall-prevention system, called MCAS, could be behind the crashes. MCAS commands automatically push down the jet's nose in case of a critical angle of attack. However, when the information coming from sensors is wrong, such actions of the security system may pose a danger to the plane as MCAS commands may overpower pilots' attempts to pull up the nose of the jet. According to investigators, pilots of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines jet needed more than four minutes to realize that incorrect data from sensors urged MCAS to push the nose down in a situation when there was no need in that.
Raytheon wins the dismissal of a USD$1 billion whistleblower lawsuit accusing the defense contractor of over billing the U.S. government on a contract for satellite sensors, nearly 18 months after the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit revived the case.