RTX Names Christopher Calio as Its New CEO

RTX Corp, the aerospace and defense firm has announced that its current chief operating officer Christopher Calio will succeed Gregory Hayes as the CEO. 

RTX, previously known as Raytheon, rose to become the world’s top defense company by revenue under Hayes’ leadership, after merging with United Technologies Corp in 2020 and recording $67 billion in sales last year.

Calio, who is 50 years old, took charge as COO in March 2022 and supervised the restructuring of the company into three divisions: Raytheon, Pratt & Whitney, and Collins Aerospace.

The company anticipates that the leadership change will be finalized by the yearly shareholders meeting on May 2, when Hayes, who is 63 years old, will assume the position of executive chairman of the board.

Calio joined the company’s board on Thursday. RTX shares dipped slightly in post-market trading with low volume.

As a former Pratt & Whitney employee, Calio will lead RTX amid financial challenges for the engine-making division, which faces production and quality problems with its Geared Turbofan Engines. One of the issues involving powdered metal could have a gross impact of $6 billion on the company.

RTX posted quarterly earnings that exceeded expectations in October, as the strong performance of its Collins Aerospace division compensated for the losses at Pratt & Whitney. The company also authorized a $10 billion stock buyback program that will be supported by short- and long-term debt.

The company’s Raytheon division has seen an increase in defense sales due to the conflict in Ukraine. RTX has secured $3 billion of orders related to restoring Ukraine and U.S. war supplies since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, and the company expects more, according to executives in October.