Stellant Systems

Last updated
Stellant Systems Inc.
Company type Private
Industry Aerospace and defense
PredecessorLitton Industries' Electron Division (later L3 Electron Division)
Hughes Microwave Tube Division (later Electron Dynamics Devices under Boeing, then Electron Technologies within L3)
Anacom, Inc./Narda West
Founded2021
SuccessorStellant Systems Inc.
Headquarters3100, Lomita Blvd,
Torrance, California
,
U.S.
Number of locations
3
ProductsTraveling wave tubes, TWTAs, xenon ion propulsion systems
Parent Arlington Capital Partners
Website stellantsystems.com

Stellant Systems Inc. is a manufacturer of microwave devices for ground-based, airborne and satellite communications and radar. In October 2021, Stellant systems was formed from L3Harris Technologies' Electron Devices and Narda Microwave-West divisions when both were sold to Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington D.C.–based private equity firm. The company was initially formed from the former Electron Devices Division (EDD) of the Industrial Electronics Group of the Hughes Aircraft Company, and from Litton Industries' Electron Division, both of which were acquired by L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. L-3 later merged with Harris Corporation in 2019 to form L3Harris Technologies which was followed shortly by both divisions' sale to Arlington in 2021. Stellant is known for their traveling-wave tubes (TWTs), traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs), microwave power modules (MPMs) and electronic power conditioners (EPCs) as well as xenon gas ion propulsion systems (XIPS). [1] Since its inception, EDD has produced tens of thousands of TWTs. [2] They are the only U.S. supplier of space-qualified TWTs and TWTAs. [3]

Contents

History

Litton Industries

In 1932, Charlie Litton started his own company in Redwood City, California. By 1945 his company, known then as Litton Industries, had about 60 employees, about 20 of which were working on vacuum tubes. By 1948, the business had grown to be about half manufacturing equipment and half tubes. After receiving a contract for a magnetron designated the 4J52, as well as follow-on contracts, the company became a major competitor to Raytheon and very profitable. In 1953, Charlie Litton sold Litton Industries to Electro Dynamics Corporation, who renamed themselves to adopt the Litton Industries name. The original Litton Industries, now Litton Industries, Electron Tube Division, grew rapidly. In 1965, Litton Industries bought Sylvania's plant in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and moved all magnetron production there. In 1975, Litton Industries bought MA-COM Tube Operations, and in 1993 bought Raytheon Microwave Power Tube Operations. During the 1990s, Litton developed tubes and became second source for most of the Hughes EDD's airborne radar tubes. In 2001, the company was purchased by Northrop Grumman, becoming Litton Electron Devices. A short time later in 2002, Northrop sold Litton to L-3 Communications, who renamed it L-3 Electron Devices. [4] [5]

Hughes Microwave Tube Division

In the early 1950s, Hughes secured a military contract for the XF-108 Rapier interceptor's AN/ASG-18 fire control system and radar. At the end of the Korean War, the F-108 program was canceled, but Howard Hughes chose to keep the program going on company money. By 1959 Hughes Microwave Tube Division was operating in Culver City, California. Hughes was developing TWTs suitable for airborne radar, and eventually won the contract for the F-14 radar system. By the time the F-14 program went into production, the tube division had outgrown the Culver City facility. Hughes moved the operation to Torrance, California, in 1967, and it became Electron Dynamics Division (EDD) within the Industrial Electronics Group. [4]

General Motors purchased Hughes Aircraft Company in 1985. The Boeing Company purchased GM's satellite operation in 2000, acquiring EDD in the process, and renamed it Boeing Satellite Systems, Electron Dynamic Devices, again maintaining the initials EDD. Boeing sold EDD to L-3 Communications, Inc. in 2005. L3 already owned another company using the initials EDD, thereby prompting a name change to L-3 communications, Electron Technologies, Inc. or ETI for short. Boeing sold the property in Torrance to RREEF America REIT III Corporation (RREEF) in October 2006. [6]

Narda Microwave-West

Narda, a firm which specialized in the RF and Microwave Product industries, was formed in 1953 in Mineola, New York. It was initially named Nassau Research & Development Associates and was made up of three engineers, Bill Bourke, Jim McFarland, Stu Casper, and a writer and businessman, John McGregor. [7] [8] The following year, they changed the name to The Narda Corp, which was changed to The Narda Microwave Corp in 1957. In 1975, Narda acquired Anacom, Inc. which formed Narda's Pacific Operations, later to become Narda West. Narda was acquired by the Loral Corporation in 1983, which was itself acquired by Lockheed in 1994. In 1997, Narda was one of the ten companies spun off from Lockheed Martin to form L3 Communications, which would later become L3 Technologies. [9]

L3 Electron Devices (L3 Technologies and L3Harris Technologies)

Both L3 Electron Devices and L3 Electron Technologies, Inc. existed under L3's umbrella before they were combined in 2017 under L3 Electron Devices. [5] Narda East and Narda West both continued on within L3 Technologies as well, though Narda Microwaves-East was combined with MITEQ, a firm L3 acquired in 2015, to form Narda-MITEQ. [10] Shortly thereafter, L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation merged in 2019 to form L3Harris Technologies. [11]

Stellant Systems Inc.

Stellant Systems Inc. came into being when L3Harris Technologies sold the Electron Devices and Narda Microwave-West divisions to Arlington Capital Partners, a private equity firm, in early October 2021. [12] Under this agreement, Electron Devices and Narda Microwave-West would combine to form Stellant Systems Inc. and become a subsidiary of Arlington's. Stellant reportedly was to maintain its independence and would be headed by leaders from within the two companies' ranks. Going forward, Stellant would retain its three facilities in Torrance, California, Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and Folsom, California. [12] [13]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microwave</span> Electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from 1 m to 1 mm

Microwave is a form of electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths shorter than other radio waves but longer than infrared waves. Its wavelength ranges from about one meter to one millimeter, corresponding to frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz, broadly construed. A more common definition in radio-frequency engineering is the range between 1 and 100 GHz, or between 1 and 3000 GHz . The prefix micro- in microwave is not meant to suggest a wavelength in the micrometer range; rather, it indicates that microwaves are small, compared to the radio waves used in prior radio technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cavity magnetron</span> Device for generating microwaves

The cavity magnetron is a high-power vacuum tube used in early radar systems and subsequently in microwave ovens and in linear particle accelerators. A cavity magnetron generates microwaves using the interaction of a stream of electrons with a magnetic field, while moving past a series of cavity resonators, which are small, open cavities in a metal block. Electrons pass by the cavities and cause microwaves to oscillate within, similar to the functioning of a whistle producing a tone when excited by an air stream blown past its opening. The resonant frequency of the arrangement is determined by the cavities' physical dimensions. Unlike other vacuum tubes, such as a klystron or a traveling-wave tube (TWT), the magnetron cannot function as an amplifier for increasing the intensity of an applied microwave signal; the magnetron serves solely as an electronic oscillator generating a microwave signal from direct current electricity supplied to the vacuum tube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klystron</span> Vacuum tube used for amplifying radio waves

A klystron is a specialized linear-beam vacuum tube, invented in 1937 by American electrical engineers Russell and Sigurd Varian, which is used as an amplifier for high radio frequencies, from UHF up into the microwave range. Low-power klystrons are used as oscillators in terrestrial microwave relay communications links, while high-power klystrons are used as output tubes in UHF television transmitters, satellite communication, radar transmitters, and to generate the drive power for modern particle accelerators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raytheon</span> U.S. defense contractor

The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with United Technologies Corporation to form Raytheon Technologies, which changed its name to RTX Corporation in July 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">L3 Technologies</span> Defunct American defense and electronic equipment manufacturer

L3 Technologies, formerly L-3 Communications Holdings, was an American company that supplied command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, aerospace, and navigation products. Its customers included the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, United States Intelligence Community, NASA, aerospace contractors, and commercial telecommunications and wireless customers. In 2019, it merged with Harris Corporation to form L3Harris Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hughes Aircraft Company</span> American aerospace and defense company (1934–1997)

The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company produced the Hughes H-4 Hercules aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the Galileo spacecraft, and the AIM-4 Falcon guided missile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Traveling-wave tube</span> Microwave signal amplifier

A traveling-wave tube or traveling-wave tube amplifier is a specialized vacuum tube that is used in electronics to amplify radio frequency (RF) signals in the microwave range. It was invented by Andrei Haeff around 1933 as a graduate student at Caltech, and its present form was invented by Rudolf Kompfner in 1942–43. The TWT belongs to a category of "linear beam" tubes, such as the klystron, in which the radio wave is amplified by absorbing power from a beam of electrons as it passes down the tube. Although there are various types of TWT, two major categories are:

Litton Industries, Inc., was an American defense contractor that specialized in shipbuilding, aerospace, electronic components, and information technology. The company was founded in 1953 and was named after inventor Charles Litton Sr., who was also an early investor in the company.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyrotron</span> Vacuum tube which generates high-frequency radio waves

A gyrotron is a class of high-power linear-beam vacuum tubes that generates millimeter-wave electromagnetic waves by the cyclotron resonance of electrons in a strong magnetic field. Output frequencies range from about 20 to 527 GHz, covering wavelengths from microwave to the edge of the terahertz gap. Typical output powers range from tens of kilowatts to 1–2 megawatts. Gyrotrons can be designed for pulsed or continuous operation. The gyrotron was invented by Soviet scientists at NIRFI, based in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

The Boeing Satellite Development Center is a major business unit of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It brought together Boeing satellite operations with that of GM Hughes Electronics' Space and Communications division in El Segundo, California.

Harris Corporation was an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produced wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision equipment and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government, defense, emergency service, and commercial sectors. They specialized in surveillance solutions, microwave weaponry, and electronic warfare. In 2019, it merged with L3 Technologies to form L3Harris Technologies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Backward-wave oscillator</span>

A backward wave oscillator (BWO), also called carcinotron or backward wave tube, is a vacuum tube that is used to generate microwaves up to the terahertz range. Belonging to the traveling-wave tube family, it is an oscillator with a wide electronic tuning range.

Eimac is a trade mark of Eimac Products, part of the Microwave Power Products Division of Communications & Power Industries. It produces power vacuum tubes for radio frequency applications such as broadcast and radar transmitters. The company name is an initialism from the names of the founders, William Eitel and Jack McCullough.

Rudolf Kompfner was an Austrian-born inventor, physicist and architect, best known as the inventor of the traveling-wave tube (TWT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hughes Electronics</span> American satellite and wireless communications company

Hughes Electronics Corporation was formed in 1985 when Hughes Aircraft was sold by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to General Motors for $5.2 billion. Surviving parts of Hughes Electronics are today known as DirecTV Group, while the automotive divisions became Aptiv.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CPI International</span>

CPI International, Inc. is the holding company for Communications & Power Industries, the largest manufacturer and rebuilder of electron devices in the United States. CPI was founded in 1995 when Varian Associates sold its electron device business to concentrate on medical systems. Its major subsidiaries include Eimac, Econco, Beverly Microwave Systems, and Radant Technologies. CPI International made its initial public offering in April 2006.

Anaren, Inc. was an American manufacturer of high-frequency radio and microwave electronics. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Syracuse, New York, it was acquired in 2018 by TTM Technologies. Anaren produced RF microelectronics, components, and assemblies for customers in the aerospace and defense, networking, and communications industries, including the wireless and satellite communications sectors.

L3Harris Technologies, Inc. is an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology services provider that produces command and control systems and products, wireless equipment, tactical radios, avionics and electronic systems, night vision equipment, and both terrestrial and spaceborne antennas for use in the government, defense, and commercial sectors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RTX Corporation</span> American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate

RTX Corporation, formerly Raytheon Technologies Corporation, is an American multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. It is one of the largest aerospace and defense manufacturers in the world by revenue and market capitalization, as well as one of the largest providers of intelligence services. In 2023, the company's seat in Forbes Global 2000 was 79. RTX manufactures aircraft engines, avionics, aerostructures, cybersecurity solutions, guided missiles, air defense systems, satellites, and drones. The company is a large military contractor, getting much of its revenue from the U.S. government.

A twystron is a type of microwave-producing vacuum tube most commonly found in high-power radar systems. The name refers to its construction, which combines a traveling wave tube, or TWT, with a klystron, producing a tw-ystron. The name was originally a trademark of Varian Associates, its developer, and was often capitalized. In recent times has become a generic term for any similar design.

References

  1. ↑ "ELECTRON TECHNOLOGIES, INC. - OVERVIEW". Archived from the original on June 30, 2011. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  2. ↑ "Traveling Wave Tubes (Military & Telecommunication)". Archived from the original on December 20, 2007. Retrieved July 14, 2011.
  3. ↑ "Jane's Space Systems and Industry". Archived from the original on April 26, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
  4. 1 2 Pond, Norman H. (2008). The Tube Guys. West Plains, Missouri: Russ Cochran. pp. 125, 187, 202 & 322. ISBN   978-0-9816923-0-2. Archived from the original on 2010-06-19.
  5. 1 2 "Heritage". Archived from the original on 17 December 2019. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  6. ↑ "Draft Statement of Basis" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-03-13.
  7. ↑ "Narda Microwave Celebrates 50 Years". Microwaves & RF. 28 June 2004. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "Company Profile: Narda Microwave". Microwave Journal. 15 July 2018. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  9. ↑ "RF & Microwave Product Catalog 31" (PDF). Millimeter Wave. Narda-Microwave East. 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  10. ↑ "About Narda-MITEQ". Narda-MITEQ. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  11. ↑ "2019 Transition Report" (PDF). L3Harris Technologies. August 2020. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  12. 1 2 "Arlington Capital Partners Completes the Acquisition of Stellant Systems, Formerly L3Harris Technologies' Electron Devices and Narda Microwave-West Divisions". Business Wire. 4 October 2021. Archived from the original on 4 October 2021. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "Stellant" (PDF). Stellant Systems. May 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 10 June 2022.
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