It was unquestionably one of the biggest events ever to hit Tucson.

The date was Feb. 2, 1951, and the headline in that morning's Arizona Daily Star shouted its significance: "Howard Hughes to Build Multi-Million Dollar Defense Plant."

City leaders, business leaders and newspaper reporters recognized immediately that the sleepy southwestern desert town of Tucson would be forever changed. Tucson was now being called "the center of the world's electronics industry" and home to "the biggest industrial development between Fort Worth and Los Angeles."

Looking back, Roy Drachman, the legendary Tucson realtor and developer who was the biggest influence in bringing Hughes to Tucson, called the company's arrival "one of the city's most important milestones," and said it "triggered a pattern that continued during the balance of the 1950s, which proved to be one of Tucson's most dramatic growth periods."

Indeed, in 1951 Tucson's population was a mere 46,000. By 1960, thanks to Hughes Aircraft Co. and the advent of air conditioning, it was home to 212,892 people.

The day it was announced that the Hughes (now Raytheon Company) manufacturing plant was coming to Tucson, bulldozers hired by contractor Del Webb of Phoenix were already clearing land for the new multi-million-dollar defense facility just south of Tucson International Airport. By October 1951, the plant was up and running. Now, nearly 60 years later, it is still operating – bigger and stronger than ever – with 11,500 employees in Tucson, an annual payroll of $1.48 billion and 2010 sales of $5.7 billion.

The 60-year anniversary of the plant's opening will be officially recognized by Raytheon during the week of Oct. 10.

"We will be celebrating the past, present and future with a variety of activities that week," said Taylor W. Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems and a Raytheon Company vice president. "In November, we will also be having an Invention Convention where we will talk about the future. We have been soliciting a lot of great ideas from within our business and we're going to have an internal competition to set the stage for the next 60 years." Raytheon acquired Hughes in 1997.

Largest private employer in Tucson

Marshall Vest, an economist at the University of Arizona's College of Business and Public Administration, said Tucson "would be a very different city" if not for Raytheon.

"Raytheon is the largest private employer in Tucson and the jobs it provides are high-skilled, high-value added jobs that pay good wages," he said. "Raytheon is really important for the local economy. If it wasn't for Raytheon we wouldn't have much of a manufacturing sector at all.

"The federal government is investing a lot of money into our local economy through the spending done by Raytheon that goes to its local suppliers and spending by Raytheon employees," Vest added.

Joe Snell, president and CEO of Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities said, "Many communities claim to be an aerospace and defense industry hub. Having Raytheon separates the contenders from the pretenders." He added, "Tucson is one of the top five metro areas for our concentration of workers in this industry. You can't achieve a fantastic rating like this without Raytheon and others forming a strong and deep cluster."

The genesis of the Tucson missile operation goes back to 1932, when the one-and-only Howard Hughes Jr. – an alternately famous and infamous aviator, engineer, industrialist, eccentric, movie maker, land baron, philanthropist and obsessive-compulsive recluse – created the Hughes Aircraft Company as a division of Hughes Tool Company, which he inherited at age 19 from his father. Experimental aircraft produced by the company and often flown by Hughes achieved numerous speed and distance records and ultimately made high-tech aviation, defense and electronics history.

In 1950, Drachman learned that Hughes Aircraft was looking for an inland site for a new manufacturing plant. He began a persistent campaign to lure the company to Tucson. That persistence paid off. In early 1951, after 10 days of tours and secret meetings throughout the Southwest, Hughes and his executives selected Tucson over such rival sites as Colorado Springs, Albuquerque and Phoenix.

In an effort to relieve worries that Hughes would stay only as long as the Korean War continued, auto dealer and Tucson Airport Authority President Monte Mansfield assured Tucsonans that Hughes' presence in the Old Pueblo would be long term and "not just a temporary war-time baby."

The original Hughes manufacturing facility was a single building with 13 acres under one roof that is now known as Building 801. Today, Raytheon occupies 4 million square feet in hundreds of buildings at three Tucson locations. Besides its large campus adjacent to the airport, Raytheon has facilities at the UA Tech Park and on both sides of South Palo Verde Road near Valencia Road.

Home of the Falcon missile

During the first year of Hughes operations in Tucson, radar units were assembled from parts supplied in Culver City, Calif., which at that time was the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft. The Tucson facility would soon become synonymous with the building of the Falcon missile, the first air-to-air radarguided weapon to be accepted by the U.S. Air Force and enter operational service.

The first Tucson-built Falcon, engineering development model XGAR-1, was delivered to the U.S. Air Force on Sept. 29, 1952. From then until the last Falcon was built and delivered in December 1963, Hughes Tucson manufactured more than 50,000 Falcon missiles. At its peak of Falcon production in 1957, the Tucson plant employed 5,700 people.

As the Falcon contract neared completion, thousands of employees were laid off, and in 1965, employment at the Tucson plant dropped to its lowest point with just 1,300 workers.

Fortunately, the company was soon able to diversify and expand its business by developing solutions to two defense industry needs. The Army sought an anti-tank missile that could be guided by signals sent over trailing wire, while the Navy was looking for a long-range missile defense system. Hughes found both of these with the TOW (Tubelaunched, Optically-tracked, Wireguided) and Phoenix missiles.

Also in the late '60s, development began on the Maverick Missile at a new Hughes site in Canoga Park, Calif., which was established as an engineering development center for guided missiles to be manufactured in Tucson. By 1972, after production of the Maverick was well under way, employment at Hughes Tucson had climbed to 3,120. In 1974, the Canoga Park and Tucson facilities became known as the Hughes Missile Systems Group.

Hughes continued to meet U.S. defense needs through the '70s and '80s with innovative concepts and technological advancements leading to production of Improved Phoenix, Improved TOW and more types of Maverick missiles.

In December 1981, the Hughes Missile Group was contracted by the U.S. Department of Defense to develop an Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile known as AMRAAM. The Hughes Tucson facility also manufactured various electronic equipment and missile launchers, such as the Angle Rate Bombing Set (ARBS), a precision optics and computer bombing system utilized by the U.S. Marines.

In 1985, General Motors Corporation purchased the Hughes Aircraft Co. and the Hughes aerospace and defense business in Tucson became a GM subsidiary.

Tucson missiles vital to military victories

Missiles made by Hughes in Tucson – TOW, Phoenix, Maverick and AMRAAM – were vital to the decisive military victory waged during the first Persian Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm, in early 1991. A U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations, led by the United States, moved against Iraq following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The initial conflict to drive Iraqi troops from Kuwait started with an aerial bombardment on Jan. 17, 1991, followed by a ground assault on Feb. 23.

The aerial bombardment by coalition forces was conducted with an accuracy that had theretofore never been seen and resulted in significantly reduced civilian deaths and injuries. The ground assault was overwhelming and resulted in surprisingly few U.S. and coalition casualties. The coalition ceased its advance and declared a cease-fire just 100 hours after the ground campaign began.

"The performance of these guided missiles in combat is a testimony to the skill and dedication of Hughes workers who ensure that missiles leaving the Tucson plant will work if needed," said a statement from Hughes Aircraft officials.

Retired USAF Brigadier General Ron Shoopman said, "As a former F-16 pilot, I can tell you that the modern air war is won by the pilot with the most capable weapons and the skill to employ them. U.S. fighter pilots are the best in the world. Armed with the most effective and accurate weapons built by Raytheon Missile Systems, the outcome of any battle is never in doubt. When it comes to developing the most versatile and effective weapons in the world, Raytheon has no equal."

In 1991, Hughes had 5,500 workers in Tucson.

In 1992, Hughes Aircraft acquired General Dynamics' missile business for $450 million and committed an additional $300 million to relocate Hughes engineering and manufacturing functions and employees to Tucson from locations in Arkansas and California. The purchase added major production programs to the Hughes arsenal, including the Tomahawk cruise missile, Standard Missile, Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM), Sparrow Missile, Stinger Missile, Advanced Cruise Missile (ACM) and the Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS).

Raytheon acquires Hughes in 1997

In the mid-'90s, Raytheon began acquiring a quick succession of hightech companies that included Dallasbased E-Systems (1995), Chrysler Corporation's defense electronics and aircraft-modification businesses (1996), and the defense unit of Texas Instruments (1997). Also in 1997, Raytheon acquired the aerospace and defense business of Hughes Aircraft Co. from GM subsidiary Hughes Electronics Corp. At the time Raytheon acquired the Hughes operation, there were 6,600 employees at the Tucson facility.

In a huge economic victory for Tucson and Southern Arizona, Raytheon officials decided to consolidate all of its missile manufacturing and development activities in Tucson.

"After Raytheon purchased the Hughes Defense Electronics Business – and the defense electronics businesses of Texas Instruments, General Dynamics and a few others – Raytheon decided in the late 1990s to centralize missile manufacturing in Tucson," said Taylor Lawrence, who has been president of Raytheon Missile Systems since July 2008.

"I think that really plays to Tucson's strength and connectivity in support of the infrastructure. That was not a decision that was taken lightly by Raytheon as a company when we brought the entire missile manufacturing together. It could have gone a lot of different places.

"But after considering a lot of analysis, Tucson was the logical choice," Lawrence continued. "It was a significant step for both Raytheon and Tucson in terms of having the infrastructure in place to support the premier missile manufacturer in the world."

Raytheon's broad portfolio of weapon systems includes air-to-air, landcombat, naval weapons, strike weapons, missile defense, guided projectiles and directed-energy systems.

In 2001, well after Raytheon had consolidated most of its missile operations in Tucson, Raytheon had 10,300 Tucson employees. Today, the company has about 11,500 Tucson workers, a level that has remained relatively steady over the last three years. Raytheon, which is the fourth-largest private employer in Arizona, continually invests in new, innovative technologies – and does so in Tucson.

Lawrence said two groups at Raytheon Tucson are "focused on next-generation technologies." Those groups are working in the areas of Advanced Missiles and Unmanned Systems, and Advanced Security and Directed Energy Systems. "We put significant resources into R&D because we always want to be there and ready for the next wave of technology," he said.

Raytheon recently acquired a hightech company in Albuquerque called Ktech, now known as Raytheon Ktech, which is doing research in the areas of directed energy, impulse power and high-power microwaves.

"We are really excited about integrating those folks into our operations and looking for opportunities to use their kind of technologies as payloads for some of our platforms," said Lawrence. "That offers a different way of creating an effect. In this case, instead of an explosive effect, you create an electro-magnetic effect. So you can take down electronics without blowing them up. It is a different approach to shaping the battle space."

Lawrence said Raytheon's relationship with the University of Arizona is a huge asset for the company.

"We hire more people from the UA than any other college or university – that is company wide, not just for the missile systems business here in Tucson," he said. "That says something about the quality of education at the UA."

"The importance of the University of Arizona's relationship with Raytheon Missile Systems is beyond measure," said Eugene G. Sander, UA president. "Raytheon is a trusted and valued partner to the university and an outstanding corporate citizen that creates an economic ripple effect throughout Arizona that benefits many inter-connected companies and spurs economic prosperity."

Helping create a bright economic future

Former F-16 pilot Shoopman also is president of the Southern Arizona Leadership Council. He said, "I can tell you that the CEOs of SALC are fully committed to preserving and growing Raytheon's operations in Tucson. These community leaders appreciate the great support Raytheon provides our armed forces and they are truly grateful for the leadership role Raytheon plays in helping to create a bright economic future for the Tucson region."

Paul Bonavia, president and CEO of UniSource Energy and Tucson Electric Power, said, "The successful recruitment of Hughes Aircraft to Tucson is an important part of this city's history. And now its successor, Raytheon Missile Systems, is playing a critical role in shaping Tucson's future. I really admire the way that Steve Eggen and others from Raytheon are stepping up and assuming leadership positions in our local economic development efforts. They're a true asset to this community."

A universal mission of Raytheon workers is to provide American soldiers with an unfair technological advantage whenever and wherever they are called upon to protect U.S. national security interests. But Raytheon Missile Systems is not just the leading producer of weapon systems for the U.S. military – it is also the largest producer of such weapons for more than 50 U.S. allies.

"Exports make up about 30 percent of the missile business and Raytheon Company is the largest-volume exporter of any defense contractor," said Lawrence. "We have a very, very broad global footprint and we have been operating globally for decades."