Raytheon Replaces Aircraft Unit Exec

Raytheon Co. replaced the head of its aircraft operations after a first-quarter loss and delays in getting approval for its new Premier I business jet. Hansel Tookes, chief executive of the Wichita, Kan.-based aircraft unit, will take a marketing role aimed at expanding Raytheon’s business outside the U.S., spokesman David Polk said. James Schuster, president of the aircraft integration systems business, will replace him.

Raytheon, which makes Beech and Hawker business aircraft, took two years longer than it expected to get Federal Aviation Administration approval for the Premier I. Analysts have said the delay held up Raytheon’s plan to sell the aircraft unit to help reduce debt.

The changes are effective immediately.

Tookes, 53, joined the Lexington, Mass.-based company in 1999 from United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit. Schuster, 48, also joined in 1999, from Magnetek Inc., where he was president of the motors and generators unit. Raytheon shares rose $1.50 to close at $30.06 on the NYSE.