CompetitorsNarrow moat

RTX (RTX) — moat facet

RTX rarely faces a rival at the point of sale except on the A320neo, and there its engine earns a third of the margin of GE Aerospace's.

RTX does not name its competitors. Its annual report says only that its businesses compete "on a variety of factors such as price, delivery schedule, past performance, reliability, customer service, innovation, and technology", and that "Many of our competitors have substantial financial resources"1. The rivals that matter have to be read from the products.

Market value of aerospace and defence peers, Sep 2026 ($bn)GE Aerospace331.8RTX255.3Boeing158.0Lockheed Martin121.1General Dynamics92.8Northrop Grumman73.1stockanalysis market-cap pages, September 2026
Second only to GE Aerospace among its peers.

They fall into four different relationships. GE Aerospace, through CFM, is the other engine on the Airbus A320neo family2, a market where an airline picks between RTX's engine and a rival's. MTU Aero Engines and Japanese Aero Engines Corporation are partners who share the engine programmes and their losses. The makers of alternative and used parts compete for the aftermarket without ever building an engine. And the other defence primes, led by Lockheed Martin, are Pratt & Whitney's customer on the F-35 and RTX's peers for the same defence budget.

The competitive position is strongest where there is no contest at the point of sale: the F135 on the F-353, the GTF on the A2204, and the Patriot and Standard Missile families already fielded by armed forces. It is weakest where the customer chooses each time, as on the A320neo.

A new defence entrant is a fifth kind of rival; RTX's filing flags them5, and they are discussed under Raytheon on the moat pages rather than repeated here.

The rivals RTX does face are larger or smaller in very different ways. GE Aerospace is worth $331.81 billion, Boeing $158.02 billion and Lockheed Martin $121.09 billion6. Only one of them, GE through CFM, sells a product that an airline can choose instead of RTX's; the others are customers, partners or peers competing for the same budgets.

The competitive verdict is narrow and stable. The figure that would change it is Pratt & Whitney's margin against GE Aerospace's commercial engine margin, 7.9% against 26.6% in 202578; a gap that stays that wide after the recall compensation ends would mean RTX is winning its engine positions by giving away the profit.

Moat trajectory: Holding steady

Sole-source positions intact; A320neo contest priced at thin margins.

The number that tests this moat
Moat Explorer calc
Pratt & Whitney margin against GE Aerospace commercial engines, full year
7.9% vs 26.6% (2025)

The price of the one open contest; a gap that stays this wide after the recall compensation ends would be structural.

How it's calculated: Pratt & Whitney operating profit ($2,596M) over sales ($32,916M) from RTX's FY2025 10-K, against GE Aerospace Commercial Engines & Services segment profit margin (26.6%) from GE's FY2025 10-K.
Source: Moat Explorer calculation: RTX segments ↗
Dig deeper
DIG DEEPER 01
GE Aerospace: The Other Engine on the A320neo
On the A320neo Pratt & Whitney's engine is the airline's other choice, and it earns a third of the margin GE Aerospace makes on commercial engines.
DIG DEEPER 02
MTU and JAEC: The Partners Who Carry 49%
Pratt & Whitney's partners carried about $2.5 billion of the powder-metal recall and in return keep almost half of every GTF dollar.
DIG DEEPER 03
The Parts Makers and the Used-Parts Market
RTX admits that airlines and governments can buy parts from firms that never built the engine, and those rivals target the most profitable overhauls.
DIG DEEPER 04
Lockheed and the Other Primes: Customer and Peer
Lockheed Martin is Pratt & Whitney's customer on the F-35 and RTX's peer for the same budget, and RTX is worth more than Lockheed and General Dynamics…
References
  1. ReportedIts annual report says only that its businesses compete "on a variety of factors such as price, delivery schedule, past performance, reliability, customer service, innovation, and technology", and that "Many of our competitors have substantial financial resources".
    RTX Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1A risk factors: competition on price, delivery and technology; customers buying parts from suppliers other than the original equipment manufacturer; discounts and guarantees to win engine positions; new defence entrants; GTF durability; reputational harm; pension sensitivity to the discount rate; tariffs. — FY2025 · publ. 6 February 2026 · source ↗
  2. Third-party estimateGE Aerospace, through CFM, is the other engine on the Airbus A320neo family, a market where an airline picks between RTX's engine and a rival's.
    The Motley Fool, on GE Aerospace's LEAP deliveries - the LEAP as the sole engine on the Boeing 737 MAX and one of two options on the Airbus A320neo family, Pratt & Whitney's geared turbofan being the other. — August 2026 · publ. 28 August 2026 · source ↗
  3. ReportedThe competitive position is strongest where there is no contest at the point of sale: the F135 on the F-35, the GTF on the A220, and the Patriot and Standard Missile families already fielded by armed forces.
    RTX Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1 business: the three segments and their products, the GTF family powering more than 2,600 aircraft for over 90 operators, the F135 as sole-source engine on all F-35 variants, GTF Advantage certification, the IAE collaboration shares, employees (about 180,000 in 52 countries, 69% in the U.S.) and the divested businesses. — FY2025 · publ. 6 February 2026 · source ↗
  4. ReportedThe competitive position is strongest where there is no contest at the point of sale: the F135 on the F-35, the GTF on the A220, and the Patriot and Standard Missile families already fielded by armed forces.
    RTX second-quarter 2026 earnings call transcript (The Motley Fool) - Raytheon bookings and book-to-bill, GTF aircraft-on-ground and MRO output, munitions output, framework agreements, the defence budget request, GTF Advantage, Collins margin plans and segment outlook - defence: Raytheon bookings, book-to-bill and backlog, munitions output, framework agreements and the budget request. — Q2 2026 · publ. 24 July 2026 · source ↗
  5. ReportedA new defence entrant is a fifth kind of rival; RTX's filing flags them, and they are discussed under Raytheon on the moat pages rather than repeated here.
    RTX Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Item 1A risk factors: competition on price, delivery and technology; customers buying parts from suppliers other than the original equipment manufacturer; discounts and guarantees to win engine positions; new defence entrants; GTF durability; reputational harm; pension sensitivity to the discount rate; tariffs. — FY2025 · publ. 6 February 2026 · source ↗
  6. ReportedGE Aerospace is worth $331.81 billion, Boeing $158.02 billion and Lockheed Martin $121.09 billion.
    RTX market capitalisation history - year-end values $108.60B (2020), $128.81B (2021), $148.36B (2022), $120.99B (2023), $154.03B (2024), $245.90B (2025), and peer market caps (GE Aerospace $331.81B, Boeing $158.02B, Lockheed Martin $121.09B). — 2020-2026 · publ. September 2026 · source ↗
  7. Moat Explorer calcThe figure that would change it is Pratt & Whitney's margin against GE Aerospace's commercial engine margin, 7.9% against 26.6% in 2025; a gap that stays that wide after the recall compensation ends would mean RTX is winning its engine positions by giving away the profit.
    Moat Explorer calculation from RTX's segment results (Forms 10-K FY2023 and FY2025, Q2 2026 earnings release; $ millions). Operating margins: Collins 2,380 / 21,152 = 11.3% (2021), 2,816 / 23,052 = 12.2% (2022), 4,923 / 30,196 = 16.3% (2025), H1 2026 2,613 / 15,812 = 16.5%, Q2 2026 1,306 / 8,210 = 15.9%, Q1 2026 (first half less Q2) 1,307 / 7,602 = 17.2%; Pratt & Whitney 454 / 18,150 = 2.5% (2021), 1,075 / 20,530 = 5.2% (2022), 2,015 / 28,066 = 7.2% (2024), 2,596 / 32,916 = 7.9% (2025), H1 2026 1,448 / 17,062 = 8.5%, Q2 2026 738 / 8,889 = 8.3%; Raytheon 3,399 / 26,611 = 12.8% (2021), 2,448 / 25,176 = 9.7% (2022), 2,379 / 26,350 = 9.0% (2023), 3,227 / 28,043 = 11.5% (2025), Q2 2026 1,042 / 8,269 = 12.6%; Q1 2026 Raytheon sales 15,214 - 8,269 = 6,945. Growth 2021-2025: Collins 30,196 / 21,152 - 1 = 43% (about 9% a year), operating profit 4,923 / 2,380 = 2.07 times; Pratt & Whitney 32,916 / 18,150 - 1 = 81%, 2025 32,916 / 28,066 - 1 = 17%; Raytheon 28,043 / 26,611 - 1 = 5%. 2025 shares of segment sales (91,155): Pratt & Whitney 36%, Collins 33%, Raytheon 31%; of segment operating profit (10,746): Collins 4,923 = 45.8%, Raytheon 3,227 = 30.0%, Pratt & Whitney 2,596 = 24.2%. Operating profit over segment assets 2025: Collins 4,923 / 71,680 = 6.9%, Raytheon 3,227 / 44,795 = 7.2%, Pratt & Whitney 2,596 / 52,482 = 4.9%. Pratt & Whitney services share 14,449 / 32,916 = 44%; services growth 14,449 / 9,717 = 1.49 times. Collins commercial share 18,858 / 27,585 = 68%; Collins government sales 7,061 + 436 + 1,230 = 8,727, 8,727 / 27,585 = 32%. Raytheon U.S. government share 19,237 / 27,892 = 69%. Collins services share 6,118 / 27,585 = 22%. Pratt & Whitney segment assets 52,482 / 44,307 - 1 = 18%. Pratt & Whitney 2025 defence bookings other than F135: about 9.0 - 2.9 - 2.4 = 3.7 billion. GE Aerospace Commercial Engines & Services profit 8,861 against Pratt & Whitney 2,596: 3.4 times; margins 26.6% against 7.9%. — 2021-2026 · publ. September 2026 · source ↗
    Method: Arithmetic on figures reported in RTX's Forms 10-K and 10-Q, earnings releases, earnings call and market data; operands shown in the source line.
  8. ReportedThe figure that would change it is Pratt & Whitney's margin against GE Aerospace's commercial engine margin, 7.9% against 26.6% in 2025; a gap that stays that wide after the recall compensation ends would mean RTX is winning its engine positions by giving away the profit.
    GE Aerospace Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 - Commercial Engines & Services segment revenue of $33,314 million and segment profit of $8,861 million, a 26.6% segment profit margin. — FY2025 · publ. January 2026 · source ↗
Sources
Generated September 28, 2026