LONDON \u2014 Undaunted by a potential slowdown in the British defense sector post the May 7 election, Raytheon UK CEO Richard Daniel says he is looking to export markets to help offset what could be a difficult time domestically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“About half of my business is already export, but we are looking for further international growth and a lot of my team will be focused on overseas markets,” he said Raytheon UK’s CEO <\/span>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Cybersecurity, Paveway IV precision-guided bombs and special mission aircraft modifications opportunities <\/span>are among upcoming export opportunities mentioned by Daniel in an interview on the eve of his first anniversary as the Raytheon UK boss. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Raytheon UK generates revenues of around \u00a3400 million (US $595 million) a year. It’s a business covering four main activities: including <\/span>weapons; intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; special mission aircraft modifications; and most recently cyber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the threat of a slowdown over the next 12 months, local or so there are still <\/span>opportunities exist, locally , <\/span>Daniel said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The British executive said he is focusing here on a growing cyber presence, securing an identification-friend-or-foe (IFF) deal and contracts to replenish weapons used against Islamic State militants in Iraq to help keep the company moving forward on the home front over the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “Domestically it’s going to be a difficult time, and my worry is how much indecision there will be as a result of going through the strategic defense and security review,” Daniel said. “People will naturally hold off, it’s going to slow down some of the big decisions, it’s going to be a difficult time.” said<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Howard Wheeldon of Wheeldon Strategic Advisory said says <\/span>he is more worried about the long-term problems than any indecision caused by the security review SDSR <\/span>process itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “I am less concerned with the short term scene in defense than the longer term,” he said. “The immediate outlook is manageable, but the longer-term outlook will adversely impact on all those engaged in the sector.” he said.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n The company is entering the potential slowdown in good shape, though <\/span>having ended last year winning significant new business, most notably in the shape of a \u00a370 million geospatial intelligence deal for the UK Joint Forces Intelligence Group. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One decision unlikely to get caught in any post-election uncertainty is the selection of a contractor to update the British military’s IFF identification friend or foe <\/span>capabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n NATO alliance members have a hard date of the end of the decade to move to the new Mode 5 IFF standard of preventing blue-on-blue attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raytheon is the incumbent supplier in the UK, and securing the deal is a key focus this year for the company and its competition partner, Thales<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Raytheon-Thales team is vying with Selex to win a deal to equip aircraft, warships, vehicles and other platforms with a system that will likely provide the winner with support opportunities running through to <\/span>2040.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company has also recently secured some small cybersecurity contracts with the government here, although Daniel declined to discuss those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Raytheon is targeting cyber as a potentially big play here given strong domestic demand and strong support of the UK government in building specialist skills and exports in the sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The company recently opened a \u00a33 million cyber innovation center nearby<\/span> Britain’s GCHQ <\/span>intelligence gathering center in Cheltenham to spearhead its domestic and export work in the sector. <\/p>\n\n\n\n