Raytheon's complex beside Tucson International Airport, on the south side of the metro.
Quick version: on August 17, 2026the U.S. Navy handed Raytheon a seven-year, $22.9 billion contract to build far more Tomahawk missiles, and the plant that builds them sits next to Tucson International Airport. It's the biggest single deal in that facility's history. If you own property on the south side of town, or you're thinking about buying some, this is worth ten minutes.
What happened
The contract is a multiyear award meant to push Tomahawk production past 1,000 missiles a year. The Tucson complex currently builds about 60 a year. Work is shared with Raytheon plants in Alabama and Massachusetts, but the Phoenix Business Journal called it the largest single deal in the Tucson facility's history, and Raytheon already delivered three times as many Tomahawks in the first half of 2026 as it did a year earlier.
The part that matters for real estate is the word "multiyear." The Navy said the structure is designed to give Raytheon and its suppliers the stability to expand capacity and grow headcount. Seven years of funded work is the kind of thing that makes a company hire, build and lease instead of run overtime.
It's a pattern, not a one-off
This is the fourth big Raytheon award with Tucson work in fourteen months:
- June 2025. A $1.1 billion AIM-9X contract that took annual production from about 1,400 missiles to 2,500.
- June 2026. A second $1.1 billion AIM-9X award. RTX says most of the work happens in Tucson and that it's significantly expanding its engineering workforce here.
- August 10, 2026. A $745 million SM-3 interceptor contract, built in Tucson and Huntsville through early 2031. Raytheon says it's actively hiring for it.
- August 17, 2026. The $22.9 billion Tomahawk deal.
Raytheon and RTX already employ more than 12,500 people in Arizona, one of the largest employers in the state. Every one of those contracts adds to that number over the next few years. Raytheon hasn't published a hiring figure for the Tomahawk contract, and I'm not going to make one up.
Where the payroll goes
The plant is on the south side, by the airport and I-19. So the natural commute sheds are the south and southeast: Sahuarita, Green Valley, Vail, Corona de Tucson, and the ranch country west of I-19. That's also where the affordable housing is. JVM Lending's 2026 forecast describes Vail and Sahuarita as some of the most affordable options in the region, drawing first-time buyers and investors, and notes that Pima County's zoning reforms now support higher density near employment centers.
What it does to values, honestly
Tucson proper is flat. Redfin has the city's median sale price at $325,000 over the three months ending July 2026, down a fraction of a percent from a year ago, with homes taking about 64 days to sell. That's a balanced market leaning toward buyers, and one defense contract doesn't change a metro of a million people overnight.
The south corridor is a different story. Long Realty's first-quarter 2026 report has Sahuarita's median sale price at $339,000, up 6.9% year over year, with closed sales up 16.4%, new pended sales up 29% and active inventory down 21%. Vail was up 3.7% on price with closed sales up almost 10%. Those are the numbers of a submarket that's absorbing demand faster than it's adding supply, and it was doing that before the Tomahawk contract was signed.
The way I read it: the south side doesn't need Raytheon to hire thousands of people for this to matter. It needs Raytheon to keep hiring engineers and technicians at a steady clip for seven years in a corridor that's already short on inventory. That's what a multiyear contract buys. Steady demand in a tight submarket is how values move, not headlines.
What I'd watch
- Land near the corridor. Acreage within twenty minutes of the airport that already has power and road access is the scarce thing. Nobody's making more of it.
- Sahuarita and Vail new-home permits. If builders can't keep up, resale values keep rising. If they can, the pressure moves to land, wells and infrastructure.
- Raytheon's own facility announcements. RTX said it will keep investing in facilities, workforce, technology and supply chain to hit the ramp. Suppliers follow, and suppliers lease industrial space and buy homes too.
If you want a read on a specific property on the south side, land or a home, I'm happy to look at it with you. No pitch, just the numbers.
Hudson Robison
Designated Broker, The Broker Reserve
Sources
- RTX, Aug. 17, 2026: Raytheon awarded seven-year contract for Tomahawk cruise missiles
- Arizona Daily Star: Raytheon lands $22.9B contract to boost Tomahawk production
- Real Estate Daily News: Raytheon lands record $22.9 billion Navy contract
- Phoenix Business Journal via KTAR: Raytheon lands $22.9B Tomahawk missile contract
- RTX, Aug. 10, 2026: $745 million contract for SM-3 IIA interceptors
- RTX, June 4, 2025: $1.1 billion contract to produce AIM-9X Block II missiles
- RTX, June 26, 2026: $1.1 billion contract to produce AIM-9X Block II missiles
- University of Arizona College of Engineering: Raytheon secures $1.1B contract to increase production and jobs
- Redfin: Tucson housing market, three months ending July 2026
- Long Realty: Tucson Metro and Southern Arizona Residential Market, Q1 2026
- JVM Lending: Tucson real estate market forecast for 2026
Compiled from the public sources linked above, believed reliable but not guaranteed. The Broker Reserve is not affiliated with Raytheon or RTX; nothing here is a statement by or on behalf of either company, and no representation is made about hiring, employment or future property values. Equal Housing Opportunity.