Vertex Aerospace LLC

international | anti-war / imperialism | news report Tuesday October 31, 2006 11:04 by denise

Raytheon subsidiary + US government overlaps

Vertex Aerospace LLC, formerly Raytheon Aerospace LLC, was acquired by Veritas Capital, a private equity investment firm, in 2001. The company changed its name from Raytheon Aerospace LLC in June 2003, but Raytheon Company (its former parent) retains about a quarter of the company.

Vertex Aerospace LLC has its headquarters in Madison, Miss. The company is considered one of the leaders in aviation and aerospace technical services, and its 6,300 employees operate in 42 states and 32 countries. About 95 percent of its sales are for the U.S. government, and its annual 2001 sales totaled about $500 million.

From 1997 to 2002, Vertex Aerospace (then Raytheon Aerospace) received around $2.1 billion in U.S. government contracts.

Former parent Raytheon, which maintains an interest in Vertex Aerospace, had more than 5,300 contracts with the U.S. government from 1990 through 2002 worth nearly $58.5 billion.
List of principlals shows many US government ties and conflicts of interest.

There is much useful information on companies with contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan on the publicintegrity.org website.

Raytheon Aerospace LLC
555 Industrial Drive South
Madison, MS 39110
Phone: (601) 607-6200
Fax: (601) 607-6420
http://www.vertexaerospace.com

Profile
Company Principals
Board of Directors
Contract History
Political Contributions
Updates
Background

Vertex Aerospace LLC, formerly Raytheon Aerospace LLC, was acquired by Veritas Capital, a private equity investment firm, in 2001. The company changed its name from Raytheon Aerospace LLC in June 2003, but Raytheon Company (its former parent) retains about a quarter of the company.

Vertex Aerospace LLC has its headquarters in Madison, Miss. The company is considered one of the leaders in aviation and aerospace technical services, and its 6,300 employees operate in 42 states and 32 countries. About 95 percent of its sales are for the U.S. government, and its annual 2001 sales totaled about $500 million.

From 1997 to 2002, Vertex Aerospace (then Raytheon Aerospace) received around $2.1 billion in U.S. government contracts.

Former parent Raytheon, which maintains an interest in Vertex Aerospace, had more than 5,300 contracts with the U.S. government from 1990 through 2002 worth nearly $58.5 billion.

Barry McCaffrey, a member of the board of directors, was on the advisory board of the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq, a Washington lobbying group formed in October 2002 to increase public support for the war in Iraq. Richard Perle, who serves on the Defense Policy Board, a government-appointed group that advises the Pentagon, served on the same committee. Perle, who advised the Turkish government through his International Advisers Inc., also helped the Raytheon Company in attempts to sell its Patriot missiles to Turkey in the early 1990s. In June 1991, the Defense Department awarded Raytheon a $346.3 million modification to an existing contract, which included funding for 32 Patriot missiles for Turkey under a foreign military sale.
Afghanistan contracts

According to a list of Pentagon contracts, Vertex Aerospace has a contract for aircraft equipment maintenance and repair in Afghanistan worth nearly $7.4 million.

Government ties

According to chairman of the board Robert McKeon, the former government officials that work for Vertex or serve on its board offer "insight, not political connections or clout. They know what our customer, the Pentagon, needs and wants." Members of Vertex's board of directors who have government connections are indeed numerous.

Director Richard Hawley, who spent 35 years with the U.S. Air Force, served as Air Combat Commander from 1996 to 1999 and the commander of the Allied Air Forces Central Europe and the U.S. Air Forces Europe from 1995 to 1996. He was a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.

Director Barry McCaffrey served as the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy from 1996 to 2001. Prior to assuming his "drug czar" duties, McCaffrey had a long career with the military, culminating in his service as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Southern Command from 1994 to 1996. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. McCaffrey serves as a frequent media commentator on military matters, including the most recent Iraq war.

Director Joseph Prueher, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, was the U.S. ambassador to China from November 1999 to May 2001. That position followed a 35-year career with the U.S. Navy, including stints as commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Command; commandant of midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy; commander of Carrier Battle Group ONE, U.S. Mediterranean Sixth Fleet, and NATO Striking Forces; and vice chief of naval operations at the Pentagon.

Director Leighton "Snuffy" Smith left the Navy after 34 years as a four-star admiral in 1996. He became commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces in southern Europe in December 1995, where he assumed the leadership of the NATO-led Implementation Force in Bosnia. Smith remains a senior fellow at the Center for Naval Analysis and a senior adviser at the U.S. Naval Institute. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.

Director Anthony Zinni ended 39 years of service with the U.S. Marine Corps when he retired in September 2000. From 1997 to 2000, Zinni served as commander-in-chief of U.S. Central command and, from 1994 to 1996, he was the commanding general of the First Marine Expeditionary Force. Zinni joined the Raytheon board in September 2001 and in November 2001 was appointed senior adviser and U.S. envoy to the Middle East by Secretary of State Colin Powell. Zinni held that envoy position until fall 2002.

Executive Vice President John Robinson spent 33 years as an army pilot and retired from the U.S. Army in October 1994 with the rank of major general. He had served as commanding general of the Aviation Training Center at Fort Ruckner in Alabama.

Director William G. Tobin graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and held military positions worldwide from 1961 to 1981.

The company also hosts military officers for one-year corporate internships under the Secretary of Defense Corporate Fellows Program.
Legal Action/Investigations

In January 2003, Raytheon, the former parent company of Vertex Aerospace, reached a $4 million settlement with the U.S. attorney's office in Kansas after Raytheon had improperly billed the Pentagon for product-liability insurance, the Washington Post reported. The improper billing occurred between 1988 and 1999, and the company changed its practices in 2000.
Updates

Updated information released by the Department of Defense revealed that Vertex Aerospace (along with Raytheon Aerospace) has received work orders totaling $91,096,464 for aircraft maintenance and repair in Afghanistan.

—André Verlöy