Raytheon last week completed the acquisition of the key business assets of Ktech, an Albuquerque, New Mexico-based company that specializes in pulsed power and directed energy. 

Raytheon Ktech is now part of Raytheon’s missile systems business area. It will enhance the company’s development efforts in the field of non-kinetic weapons, such as high-power microwave (HPM). Non-kinetic weapons aim to incapacitate or destroy the electronic heart of a target without the need for total destruction.

Mike Booen, Raytheon’s v-p advanced security and directed energy systems, explained that the company is looking at a variety of platforms and applications but recognized that UAVs are “an obvious area to look at. Warfighters may well want a reusable asset.” Booen would not be drawn on any timescale, but said, “There’s an appetite for this capability right now.”