Raytheon, corporate parent of Collins Aerospace, rebrands as RTX

In a corporate realignment, Raytheon Technologies — the corporate parent of Collins Aerospace, the largest private employer in Cedar Rapids — has rebranded as RTX.

The change was unveiled July 1. RTX, with more than 180,000 employees worldwide, will operate three focused businesses — Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon.

In 2018, United Technologies Corp. bought Rockwell Collins for $30 billion, combining it with UTC’s Aerospace Systems in Charlotte, N.C., to form Collins Aerospace, based in Cedar Rapids.

In April 2020, United Technologies Corp. and Raytheon Technologies merged in a $135 billion deal, one of the largest deal in aerospace and defense history, and Collins Aerospace became a Raytheon Technologies business unit.

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“While we honor our legacy, we are always looking to the future — and that future is RTX," RTX Chairman and CEO Gregory Hayes said in the announcement.

"Over the past few years, we have solidified our industry-leading positions with a $180 billion backlog across the highest growth commercial aerospace platforms and franchises serving the most critical defense priorities," he said.

"RTX is leveraging its breadth, scale and operational discipline to serve our customers and deliver value to our shareowners,“ he said. ”... RTX is uniquely positioned for sustained profitable growth well beyond 2025."

RTX, on its website, said 50 percent of the world is protected with RTX defense products and that “every second of every day, an aircraft carrying RTX technology takes flight.”

The company, headquartered in Arlington, Va., added that its increasingly efficient aircraft engines have saved more 1 billion gallons of fuel. It had $67 billion in sales in 2022.

Collins Aerospace has nearly 9,000 employees in Iowa, including 7,000 in Cedar Rapids.