RTX Strengthens Its Position in Military Radar Market With Innovation

RTX Corporation RTX continues to strengthen its radar systems portfolio to meet rising global demand for surveillance, missile detection and air defense solutions, amid growing geopolitical tensions and increased defense spending worldwide.

The company’s business segment, Raytheon, is known for developing next-generation radar systems that enhance tracking precision and situational awareness for both land and naval operations. To capture more shares of the military radar market, the company has been investing significantly in research and development of more advanced radar technologies.

A key instance of this is the successful first flight test of RTX’s PhantomStrike radar in May 2025. This next-generation, fully air-cooled radar uses gallium nitride (GaN) technology and provides long-range threat detection at about half the cost of traditional fire-control radars. More recently, in September, RTX introduced the APG-82(V)X, representing the latest iteration of its successful APG-82 combat radar. The key advancement is the integration of state-of-the-art GaN technology, which fundamentally improves the radar's effectiveness by providing extended range and enhanced capabilities across air-to-air, air-to-ground, and electronic warfare operations.

Such innovations should bolster RTX’s Raytheon unit’s sales in the coming years, which registered solid growth of 6.4% in second-quarter 2025.

Peers Benefitting From Radar Market Growth

The global radar systems market continues to expand as nations increase investments in surveillance, air defense and missile detection technologies. Major defense contractors such as Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. KTOS and Lockheed Martin Corp. LMT are also well-positioned to benefit from this growing demand alongside RTX.

Kratos’ radar portfolio includes advanced hardware and subsystems used in ground-based radar applications. In October 2025, Kratos received a U.S. Navy contract worth up to $175 million under Project Anaconda to develop an organic sustainment capability for the AN/SPY-1 radar systems. This contract further strengthens its position as a key radar manufacturer in the defense industry.

LMT’s radar systems are used by more than 45 nations across six continents. Its portfolio includes a variety of radars such as TPY-4, AN/APY-9, AN/TPQ-53, SPY-7, TPS-77 and Sentinel A4. In July 2025, LMT successfully delivered the first Aegis System Equipped Vessel shipset, which included four AN/SPY-7(V)1 radar antennas, to the Japan Ministry of Defense.

The Zacks Rundown for RTX

Shares of RTX have gained 27.3% in the past year compared with the industry’s 15.8% growth.

The company shares are trading at a discount on a relative basis, with its forward 12-month Price/Earnings being 24.37X compared with its industry’s average of 28.51X.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for RTX’s near-term earnings has remained the same over the past 60 days.

RTX stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research