COMPANYHISTORIES
NAIC 334511

Search, Detection, Navigation, Guidance, Aeronautical, and Nautical Systems and Instruments

How the companies in this industry began, and the forces that shaped them.

66companies1850–2000founding years61still active5no longer operating
§ 01

The industry over time

Companies foundedEconomyTechnologyEnvironmentHistory
FoundedScovill Fasteners Inc.
1850
FoundedGeneral Electric Company
1892
1903
TechnologyThe Wright brothers achieve powered flight.
1914
EconomyWorld War I begins; global trade reorders.
FoundedSparton Corporation
1916
FoundedSAGEM S.A.
1924
FoundedSundstrand Corporation
1926
FoundedGrumman Corporation
1929
FoundedNorthrop Grumman Corporation
1939
EconomyWorld War II begins; wartime production surges.
FoundedBalfour Beatty plc
1945
EconomyThe war ends; a long global expansion begins.
FoundedMeggitt PLC
1947
TechnologyThe transistor is invented.
FoundedStrix Ltd.
1951
FoundedLitton Industries, Inc.
1953
FoundedW.L. Gore & Associates, Inc.
1958
TechnologyThe integrated circuit is demonstrated.
1962
EnvironmentSilent Spring launches the modern environmental movement.
FoundedHerley Industries, Inc.
1965
FoundedMcDonnell Douglas Corporation
1967
FoundedSensormatic Electronics Corp.
1968
1975
TechnologyThe personal-computer era begins.
FoundedTrimble Navigation Limited
1978
1981
TechnologyThe IBM PC launches and sets a standard.
FoundedLaserscope
1984
TechnologyApple ships the Macintosh; the GUI era begins.
1989
HistoryThe Berlin Wall falls; global markets open up.
1991
TechnologyThe World Wide Web is released to the public.
1993
TechnologyThe Mosaic browser brings the web to everyone.
1995
TechnologyWindows 95 launches; the internet goes mainstream.
FoundedL-3 Communications Holdings, Inc.
1997
EnvironmentThe Kyoto Protocol sets the first climate targets.
2000
TechnologyGPS opens to civilian use, turning location into a utility.
2004
TechnologySocial media and Web 2.0 take hold.
2007
TechnologyThe iPhone launches the smartphone era.
2010
TechnologyCloud computing goes mainstream for business.
2015
EnvironmentThe Paris Agreement sets global climate targets.
2020
EconomyThe COVID-19 pandemic upends the global economy.
2022
EconomyInflation spikes; central banks raise rates sharply.
2023
TechnologyGenerative AI reaches mainstream business use.
§ 02

The companies

Scovill Fasteners Inc. →
Active · founded 1850
One of the oldest manufacturing concerns in the United States, Scovill Fasteners Inc.
Johnson Controls, Inc. →
Active · founded 1885
Johnson Controls, Inc.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation →
Active · founded 1886
Westinghouse Electric Corporation is among the country's largest electronics companies, with units committed to serving…
General Electric Company →
Active · founded 1892
The history of General Electric Company is a significant part of the history of technology in the United States.
Simplex Technologies Inc. →
Active · founded 1895
Simplex Technologies Inc.
TRW Inc. →
Active · founded 1901
Long a conglomerate, TRW Inc.
Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. →
Active · founded 1916
With over 150 years of manufacturing experience, Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc., dominates numerous niche markets with…
Sparton Corporation →
Active · founded 1916
Sparton Corporation has a century long history of manufacturing technologically advanced equipment for the…
AlliedSignal Inc. →
Defunct · founded 1920
AlliedSignal Inc., formed from the acquisition of Signal Companies, Inc.
Ball Corporation →
Active · founded 1922
Although the Ball Corporation is best known for its distinctive home canning jars, that business was just one segment…
Raytheon Company →
Active · founded 1922
Raytheon Company is the third largest defense contractor in the United States, trailing only the Boeing Company and…
SAGEM S.A. →
Defunct · founded 1924 · France
French high-tech company SAGEM S.A.
General Dynamics Corporation →
Active · founded 1925
General Dynamics' contribution to the defense industry, through the production of nuclear submarines and armored…
Harris Corporation →
Active · founded 1926
The origin of the Harris Corporation, a leading American electronics company, is actually to be found in the printing…
Sundstrand Corporation →
Active · founded 1926
Known as a premier supplier of parts for the aircraft industry since the 1940s, Sundstrand Corporation is also a…
Honeywell Inc. →
Active · founded 1927
Honeywell Inc.
FMC Corporation →
Active · founded 1928
FMC Corporation is a leading producer of industrial and specialty chemicals and maintains interests in defense systems,…
Rockwell International Corporation →
Active · founded 1928
One of five companies in the United States supplying the federal government with military aircraft fighters and bombers…
Grumman Corporation →
Active · founded 1929
The manufacturer of the U.S.
Sequa Corporation →
Active · founded 1929
Sequa Corporation is a diversified industrial company that produces a broad range of aerospace products, printing and…
The Boeing Company →
Active · founded 1934
The Boeing Company is the largest aerospace company in the world, thanks to its 1997 merger with McDonnell Douglas…
CAE USA Inc. →
Active · founded 1935
CAE USA Inc., formerly known as Reflectone, is one of the few remaining producers of full-fledged flight simulators for…
Northrop Grumman Corporation →
Active · founded 1939
Northrop Grumman Corporation is the number three defense firm in the United States, behind The Boeing Company and…
Héroux-Devtek Inc. →
Active · founded 1942 · Canada
Héroux-Devtek Inc.
Tech-Sym Corporation →
Active · founded 1944
When Tech-Sym Corporation was purchased by Veritas Capital Fund L.P.'s Integrated Defense Technologies (IDT) unit in…
Balfour Beatty plc →
Active · founded 1945 · United Kingdom
Late 19th century:Callender's Cable and Construction Co.
Kaman Corp. →
Active · founded 1945
Kaman Corp.
Safe Flight Instrument Corporation →
Active · founded 1946
Safe Flight Instrument Corporation produces a wide array of devices to make flying safer and more manageable.
Andrew Corporation →
Active · founded 1947
Andrew Corporation is an international supplier of communications equipment, systems, and services.
Meggitt PLC →
Active · founded 1947 · United Kingdom
From obscure origins, Meggitt PLC has grown into a global aerospace supplier.
Pioneer Electronic Corporation →
Active · founded 1947 · Japan
Pioneer Electronic Corporation is one of the leading electronics firms in the world.
Omron Corporation →
Active · founded 1948 · Japan
Omron Corporation is a world leader in the field of automation.
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd. →
Defunct · founded 1950 · Japan
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.
Strix Ltd. →
Active · founded 1951 · Isle Of Man
Strix Ltd.
CompuDyne Corporation →
Active · founded 1952
CompuDyne Corporation is the leading U.S.
BBN Corp. →
Active · founded 1953
BBN Corp.
Litton Industries, Inc. →
Active · founded 1953
The U.S.
Dover Corporation →
Active · founded 1955
Dover Corporation is a diversified industrial manufacturing holding company composed of about 50 subsidiaries with…
Tracor Inc. →
Active · founded 1955
Tracor Inc.
Lowrance Electronics, Inc. →
Active · founded 1958
Since the late 1950s Lowrance Electronics, Inc.
W.L. Gore & Associates, Inc. →
Active · founded 1958
W.L.
Talley Industries, Inc. →
Active · founded 1960
Talley Industries Inc.
Lockheed Martin Corporation →
Active · founded 1961
Formed in 1995 via the union of the nation's second- and third-ranking defense contractors, Lockheed Corporation and…
E-Systems, Inc. →
Active · founded 1964
E-Systems, Inc.
Herley Industries, Inc. →
Active · founded 1965
Herley Industries, Inc.
Anaren Microwave, Inc. →
Active · founded 1967
Anaren Microwave, Inc.
Aydin Corp. →
Active · founded 1967
A world class provider of products and systems for the acquisition and distribution of information over electronic…
McDonnell Douglas Corporation →
Active · founded 1967
The largest defense contractor in the United States, McDonnell Douglas Corporation is also the world's largest builder…
Aerosonic Corporation →
Active · founded 1968
Aerosonic Corporation is a producer of aircraft instruments and precision machined components.
Astronics Corporation →
Active · founded 1968
Nautical System and Instrument Manufacturing; 335122 Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Electric Lighting…
International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation →
Active · founded 1968
Once known primarily as a telecommunications company, the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT) has…
Sensormatic Electronics Corp. →
Active · founded 1968
Sensormatic Electronics Corp.
Oceaneering International, Inc. →
Active · founded 1969
Oceaneering International, Inc.
Campbell Scientific, Inc. →
Active · founded 1974
Campbell Scientific, Inc., headquartered in Logan, Utah, designs and manufactures dataloggers, data acquisition…
FLIR Systems, Inc. →
Active · founded 1978
FLIR Systems, Inc.
Trimble Navigation Limited →
Active · founded 1978
Trimble Navigation Limited develops satellite-based position data products using the Global Positioning System (GPS), a…
The Titan Corporation →
Active · founded 1981
Historically, The Titan Corporation was a defense department contractor involved in areas such as wireless…
Engineered Support Systems, Inc. →
Active · founded 1983
Engineered Support Systems, Inc.
Laserscope →
Active · founded 1984
Laserscope is a San Jose, California-based company that makes medical laser systems for a variety of uses.
SBS Technologies, Inc. →
Active · founded 1986
SBS Technologies, Inc.
Orbital Sciences Corporation →
Defunct · founded 1990
Orbital Sciences Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, is an unrivaled, leading-edge space technology company…
United Defense Industries, Inc. →
Defunct · founded 1994
United Defense Industries, Inc., designs, develops, and produces combat vehicles, artillery, naval guns, missile…
L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. →
Active · founded 1997
L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc., through its L-3 Communications Corp.
Integrated Defense Technologies, Inc. →
Active · founded 1998
Integrated Defense Technologies, Inc.
Teledyne Technologies Inc. →
Active · founded 1999
Teledyne Technologies Inc.
Garmin Ltd. →
Active · founded 2000 · Cayman Islands
Aviation products accounted for 20 percent of revenues.
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