Rockwell International was a major American manufacturing conglomerate in the latter half of the 20th century, involved in aircraft, the space industry, both defense-oriented and commercial electronics, light & heavy vehicle components in the automotive industry, printing presses, avionics, power tools, valves and meters, and industrial automation. Rockwell International's predecessor was founded in 1919 by Willard Rockwell. At its peak in the 1990s, Rockwell International was No. 27 on the Fortune 500 list, with assets of over $8 billion, sales of $27 billion and 115,000 employees.
Redstone Arsenal (RSA) is a United States Army post and a census-designated place (CDP) adjacent to Huntsville in Madison County, Alabama, United States and is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a garrison for a number of tenants including the United States Army Materiel Command, Army's Aviation and Missile Command, the Missile Defense Agency of the Department of Defense, and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. RSA has benefited from decisions by the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The Redstone Arsenal CDP had a population of 1,946 as of the 2010 census. The base contains a government and contractor workforce that averages 36,000 to 40,000 personnel daily.
Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Space Force Base located 9.2 miles (14.8 km) northwest of Lompoc, California. Established in 1941, Vandenberg Air Force Base is a space launch base, launching spacecraft from the Western Range and also performs missile testing. The United States Space Force's 30th Space Wing serves as the host wing for the base. In addition to its military space launch mission, Vandenberg Air Force Base also performs space launches for civil and commercial space entities, such as NASA.
The Boeing YAL-1 Airborne Laser Testbed weapons system was a megawatt-class chemical oxygen iodine laser (COIL) mounted inside a modified Boeing 747-400F. It was primarily designed as a missile defense system to destroy tactical ballistic missiles (TBMs) while in boost phase. The aircraft was designated YAL-1A in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Defense.
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), it was in active service with the United States Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe. It was the first US missile to carry a live nuclear warhead, in the 1958 Pacific Ocean weapons test, Hardtack Teak.
Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953 it was purchased by General Dynamics, and operated as their Convair Division for most of its corporate history.
North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, the Space Shuttle orbiter and the B-1 Lancer.
A flight is a military unit in an air force, naval air service, or army air corps. It is usually composed of three to six aircraft, with their aircrews and ground staff; or, in the case of a non-flying ground flight, no aircraft and a roughly equivalent number of support personnel. In most usages, multiple flights make up a squadron. The "flight" is also a basic unit for intercontinental ballistic missiles. Foreign languages equivalents include escadrille (French), escuadrilla (Spanish), esquadrilha (Portuguese) and Schwarm (German).
The Strategic Missile Forces or Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or RVSN RF are a military branch of the Russian Armed Forces that controls Russia's land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). The RVSN was first formed in the Soviet Armed Forces, and when the USSR collapsed in December 1991, it effectively changed its name from the Soviet to the Russian Strategic Rocket Forces or Strategic Missile Troops.
The Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by T. Claude Ryan in San Diego, California in 1934. It became part of Teledyne in 1969, and of Northrop Grumman when the latter company purchased Teledyne in 1999. Ryan built several historically and technically significant aircraft, including four innovative V/STOL designs, but its most successful production aircraft was the Ryan Firebee line of unmanned drones used as target drones and unmanned air vehicles.
Continental Aerospace Technologies is an aircraft engine manufacturer located at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It was originally spun off from automobile engine manufacturer Continental Motors Company in 1929 and owned by Teledyne Technologies from 1969 until December 2010. The company is now part of Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), which is owned by the government of the People's Republic of China.
Teledyne Technologies Incorporated is an American industrial conglomerate. It was founded in 1960, as Teledyne, Inc., by Henry Singleton and George Kozmetsky.
The AQM-37 Jayhawk is an air-launched supersonic target drone manufactured by Beechcraft capable of simulating inbound ICBM warhead packages for fleet shoot-down exercises.
The MGM-5 Corporal missile was a nuclear-armed tactical surface-to-surface missile. It was the first guided weapon authorized by the United States to carry a nuclear warhead. A guided tactical ballistic missile, the Corporal could deliver either a nuclear fission, high-explosive, fragmentation or chemical warhead up to a range of 75 nautical miles (139 km).
Aerospace Defense Command was a major command of the United States Air Force, responsible for continental air defense. It was activated in 1968 and disbanded in 1980. Its predecessor, Air Defense Command, was established in 1946, briefly inactivated in 1950, reactivated in 1951, and then redesignated Aerospace rather than Air in 1968. Its mission was to provide air defense of the Continental United States (CONUS). It directly controlled all active measures, and was tasked to coordinate all passive means of air defense.
Ping-Pong was a battlefield reconnaissance rocket developed by Lockheed-California – later the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company – for use by the United States Army. Intended to give battlefield commanders the ability to gain photographic data on enemy locations, it reached the flight-test stage before being cancelled.
Hercules, Inc., was a chemical and munitions manufacturing company based in Wilmington, Delaware, incorporated in 1912 as the Hercules Powder Company following the breakup of the Du Pont explosives monopoly by the U.S. Circuit Court in 1911. Hercules Powder Company became Hercules, Inc. in 1966, operating under this name until 2008, when it was merged into Ashland Inc.
The 526th Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Systems Group is an inactive United States Air Force (USAF) unit. It was last located at Hill AFB, Utah, where it was inactivated in 2010. The group was first activated during World War II to conduct anti-submarine warfare in the Caribbean and off the Atlantic seaboard of Georgia and Florida. It was again active during the Cold War as an Atlas missile wing. Its final period of active service was as a systems and sustainment organization for USAF missile systems.
Teledyne Controls is a business unit of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated. Created in 1964, the company designs and manufactures onboard avionic and ground-based electronic systems for the aviation industry.
The Russian Aerospace Forces or VKS are the Aerospace Forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was established as a new branch on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force (VVS) and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO) under the recommendations of the Ministry of Defence. It is headquartered in Moscow. Several reasons were announced for the merging, including greater efficiency and logistical support.
