Hughes Missile Systems
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The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American
aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...
and
defense contractor A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military or intelligence department of a government. Products typically include military or civilian aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and ...
founded on February 14, 1934 by
Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...
in
Glendale, California Glendale is a city located primarily in the Verdugo Mountains region, with a small portion in the San Fernando Valley, of Los Angeles County, California, United States. It is located about north of downtown Los Angeles. As of 2024, Glendale ha ...
, as a division of the
Hughes Tool Company Hughes Tool Company was an American manufacturer of drill bits. Founded in 1908, it was merged into Baker Hughes Incorporated in 1987. History The company was established in December 1908 as Sharp-Hughes Tool Company when Howard R. Hughes ...
. The company produced the
Hughes H-4 Hercules The Hughes H-4 Hercules (commonly known as the ''Spruce Goose''; Aircraft registration, registration NX37602) is a prototype strategic airlift flying boat designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. Intended as a transatlantic flight t ...
aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the ''Galileo'' spacecraft, and the
AIM-4 Falcon The Hughes AIM-4 Falcon was the first operational guided air-to-air missile of the United States Air Force. Development began in 1946; the weapon was first tested in 1949. The missile entered service with the USAF in 1956. Produced in both heat- ...
guided
missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...
. Hughes Aircraft was founded to build Hughes' H-1 Racer world speed record aircraft, and later modified other aircraft for his transcontinental and global circumnavigation speed record flights. The company relocated to
Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. It is mostly surrounded by Los Angeles, but also shares a border with the unincorporated area of Ladera Heights, Californi ...
, in 1940 and began manufacturing aircraft parts as a subcontractor. Hughes attempted to mold it into a major military aircraft manufacturer during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. However, its early military projects ended in failure, with millions of dollars in U.S. government funds expended for only a handful of prototypes, resulting in a highly publicized
U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...
investigation into alleged mismanagement. The U.S. military consequently hesitated to award new aircraft contracts to Hughes Aircraft, prompting new management in the late 1940s to instead pursue contracts for
fire-control system A fire-control system (FCS) is a number of components working together, usually a gun data computer, a director and radar, which is designed to assist a ranged weapon system to target, track, and hit a target. It performs the same task as a hum ...
s and
guided missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of Propulsion, self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a targ ...
s, which were new technologies. The company soon became a highly profitable industry leader in these fields. In a 1953 accounting maneuver designed to reduce his
income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Tax ...
liabilities, Howard Hughes donated most of Hughes Aircraft's stock and assets to the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...
(HHMI), a charity he created himself, and subsequently ceased managing the company directly. Hughes retained a small cadre of engineers under his personal control as the Hughes Tool Company Aircraft Division, which initially operated from the same Culver City complex as Hughes Aircraft, despite being separately owned and managed. This entity subsequently became fully independent from Hughes Aircraft and changed its name to
Hughes Helicopters Hughes Helicopters was a major manufacturer of military and civilian helicopters from the 1950s to the 1980s. The company began in 1947, as a unit of Hughes Aircraft, then was part of the Hughes Tool Company after 1955. It became the Hughes ...
. After Hughes' 1976 death, Hughes Aircraft was acquired by
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
from HHMI in 1985 and was put under the umbrella of
Hughes Electronics 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 automoti ...
(which became
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
in 1994), until GM sold its assets to
Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is 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 Unite ...
in 1997.


History

During
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the company designed and built several
prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...
aircraft at Hughes Airport. These included the famous
Hughes H-4 Hercules The Hughes H-4 Hercules (commonly known as the ''Spruce Goose''; Aircraft registration, registration NX37602) is a prototype strategic airlift flying boat designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. Intended as a transatlantic flight t ...
(better known by the public's nickname for it, the ''Spruce Goose''), the H-1 racer, D-2, and the XF-11. However, the plant's
hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
s at Hughes Airport, the location of present-day
Playa Vista Playa Vista is a neighborhood in the Westside area of Los Angeles, California, United States. The area was the headquarters of Hughes Aircraft Company from 1941 to 1985 and the site of the construction of the Hughes H-4 Hercules "Spruce Goo ...
in the Westside of
Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
, were primarily used as a
branch plant A branch plant economy is an economy that hosts many branch plants (i.e. factories or firms near the base of a supply chain/command chain), but does not host headquarters. In particular, the term was used in arguments that countries must develop i ...
for the construction of other companies' designs. At the start of the war, Hughes Aircraft had only four full-time employees; by the end of the war, the number was 80,000. During the war, the company was awarded contracts to build B-25 struts, centrifugal cannons, and machine gun feed chutes.


Post–World War II

Hughes Aircraft was one of many aerospace and defense companies which flourished in
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
during and after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, and was at one time the largest employer in the area. However, employment had dropped to 800 by 1947. By the summer of 1947, certain politicians had become concerned about Hughes' alleged mismanagement of the Spruce Goose and the XF-11 photo reconnaissance plane project. They formed a special committee to investigate Hughes which culminated in a much-followed Senate investigation, one of the first to be televised to the public. Despite a highly critical committee report, Hughes was cleared. The company then expanded into the booming electronics field, eventually employing 3,300 Ph.D.s. Hughes hired
Ira Eaker General officer, General (Honorary) Ira Clarence Eaker (April 13, 1896 – August 6, 1987) was a general of the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. Eaker, as second-in-command of the prospective Eighth Air Force, was sent to En ...
,
Harold L. George Harold Lee George (July 19, 1893 – February 24, 1986) was an American aviation pioneer who helped shape and promote the concept of daylight precision bombing. An outspoken proponent of the industrial web theory, George taught at the Air Corps Ta ...
, and
Tex Thornton Charles Bates "Tex" Thornton (July 22, 1913 – November 24, 1981) was an American business executive who was the founder of Litton Industries. Early life Charles Bates Thornton was born on July 22, 1913, in Goree, Texas. Career He served in th ...
to run the company. By 1953, the company employed 17,000 and had $600 million in government contracts. In 1948, Hughes created a new division of the company, the Aerospace Group. Two Hughes engineers,
Simon Ramo Simon "Si" Ramo (May 7, 1913 – June 27, 2016) was an American engineer, businessman, and author. He led development of microwave and missile technology and is sometimes known as the father of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). He ...
and
Dean Wooldridge Dean Everett Wooldridge (May 30, 1913 in Chickasha, Oklahoma – September 20, 2006 in Santa Barbara, California) was a prominent engineer in the aerospace industry.Stenbit JP (2008) ''Dean E Wooldridge'', Memorial Tributes: National Academy of En ...
, had new ideas on the packaging of electronics to make complete fire control systems. Their MA-1 system combined signals from the aircraft's
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
with a
digital computer A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (''computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', wh ...
to automatically guide the
interceptor aircraft An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...
into the proper position for firing missiles. At the same time other teams were working with the newly formed
US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
on air-to-air missiles, delivering the
AIM-4 Falcon The Hughes AIM-4 Falcon was the first operational guided air-to-air missile of the United States Air Force. Development began in 1946; the weapon was first tested in 1949. The missile entered service with the USAF in 1956. Produced in both heat- ...
, then known as the F-98. The MA-1/Falcon package, with several upgrades, was the primary interceptor weapon system of the USAF for many years, lasting into the 1980s. Having failed to reach an agreement with Howard Hughes regarding management problems, Ramo and Wooldridge resigned in September 1953 and founded the
Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation TRW Inc. was an American corporation involved in a variety of businesses, mainly aerospace, electronics, automotive, and credit reporting.http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/TRW-Inc-Company-History.html TRW Inc. It was a pioneer ...
, later to join Thompson Products to form the Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge based in
Canoga Park Canoga Park is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. Before the Mexican–American War, the district was part of a rancho, and after the American victory it was converted into wheat farms and ...
, with Hughes leasing space for
nuclear research Nuclear physics is the field of physics that studies atomic nuclei and their constituents and interactions, in addition to the study of other forms of nuclear matter. Nuclear physics should not be confused with atomic physics, which studies the ...
programs (present-day West Hills). The company became TRW in 1965, another aerospace company and a major competitor to Hughes Aircraft. In 1951, Hughes Aircraft built a missile plant in
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
due to Howard Hughes' fear that his Culver City plant could be attacked. By the end of that year, the U.S. Air Force had purchased the property and contracted Hughes (and subsequently
Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is 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 Unite ...
) to operate the site as Air Force Plant 44. In 1953, Howard Hughes donated Hughes Aircraft to the newly formed
Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...
(HHMI), allegedly as a way of avoiding taxes on its huge income. The next year, Lawrence A. "Pat" Hyland was hired as vice president and general manager of Hughes Aircraft; he would ultimately become company president and CEO after Howard Hughes' death in 1976. Under Hyland's guidance, the Aerospace Group continued to diversify and become massively profitable, and became a primary focus of the company. It developed
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
systems, electro-optical systems, the first working
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...
, aircraft computer systems, missile systems, ion-propulsion engines (for space travel), and many other advanced technologies. The Electronic Properties Information Center (EPIC) of the United States was hosted at the Hughes Culver City library in the 1970s. EPIC published the multi-volume ''Handbook of Electronic Materials'' as public documents.
Nobel Laureate The Nobel Prizes (, ) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make outstanding contributions in th ...
s
Richard Feynman Richard Phillips Feynman (; May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist. He is best known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, the physics of t ...
and
Murray Gell-Mann Murray Gell-Mann (; September 15, 1929 – May 24, 2019) was an American theoretical physicist who played a preeminent role in the development of the theory of elementary particles. Gell-Mann introduced the concept of quarks as the funda ...
had Hughes connections: Feynman would hold weekly seminars at
Hughes Research Laboratories Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Hughes (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hugh ...
, and Gell-Mann shared an office with
Malcolm R. Currie Malcolm Roderick Currie (March 13, 1927 – April 18, 2021) was an American engineer and former executive. Currie was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of Erwin Caster Currie and Genevieve Hauenstein and attended the University of California, ...
, later a chairman of the board and chief executive officer at Hughes Aircraft.
Greg Jarvis Gregory Bruce Jarvis (August 24, 1944 – January 28, 1986) was an American engineer and astronaut who died during the January 28, 1986 destruction of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L, where he was serving as payload speci ...
and
Ronald McNair Ronald Erwin McNair (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986) was an American NASA astronaut and physicist. He died at the age of 35 during the launch of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' on mission STS-51-L, in which he was serving as one of th ...
, two of the astronauts on the last flight of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'', were Hughes alumni.


Ground Systems Group

Hughes Aircraft Ground Systems Group was located in
Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and S ...
. The facility was 3 million square feet and included manufacturing, laboratories, offices, and a Munson road test course. It designed, developed, and produced the Air Defense Systems that replaced the Semi Automatic Defense Ground Environment (SAGE) in the United States with the Joint Surveillance System (JSS) AN/FYQ-93 including
NORAD North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD ; , CDAAN), known until March 1981 as the North American Air Defense Command, is a combined organization of the United States and Canada that provides aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and pr ...
with Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) and provided defense systems and air traffic control systems around the world. These systems are massive and at its peak Ground Systems Group employed 15,000 people and generated revenue in excess of $1 billion per year. These systems included the following Ground Systems Group subsystems: Computer H5118, Consoles HMD-22 and HMD-44, Liquid Crystal Large Screen Displays, and Software that set the standard for software development based on science and engineering, starting with the Combat Grande System. Ground Systems Group was known to push technology envelopes in the computers, displays, local area networks, human interfaces, and software in their systems. They also blazed the path to very highly distributed human intensive systems.


Hughes Space and Communications Group

In 1963, Hughes Space and Communications Group and the Hughes Space Systems Division built the world's first geosynchronous
communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...
,
Syncom Syncom (for "synchronous communication satellite") started as a 1961 NASA program for active geosynchronous communication satellites, all of which were developed and manufactured by the Space and Communications division of Hughes Aircraft Compa ...
, followed by the first geosynchronous weather satellite, ATS-1, in 1966. Later that year, their
Surveyor 1 Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the uncrewed Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, United States). This lunar soft-lander gathered data about the lunar surface that would be needed for the c ...
made the first soft landing on the
Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
as part of the lead-up to the Moon landings in
Project Apollo The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...
. Hughes also built
Pioneer Venus The Pioneer Venus project was part of the Pioneer program consisting of two spacecraft, the Pioneer Venus Orbiter and the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, launched to Venus in 1978. The program was managed by NASA's Ames Research Center. The Pionee ...
in 1978, which performed the first extensive radar mapping of
Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, and the ''Galileo'' probe that flew to
Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...
in the 1990s. The company built nearly 40 percent of commercial satellites in service worldwide in 2000.


Hughes helicopter business

In 1947, Howard Hughes redirected Hughes Aircraft's efforts from airplanes to
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
s. The effort began in earnest in 1948, when helicopter manufacturer Kellett Aircraft Co. sold its latest design to Hughes for production. The XH-17 "Flying Crane" first flew in October 1952, but was commercially unsuccessful. In 1955, Howard Hughes split the helicopter production unit from the Hughes Aircraft Company, and reconstituted it with Hughes Tool Company, calling it Hughes Tool Company's Aircraft Division. The Aircraft Division had a focus on the production of light helicopters, mainly the Hughes 269/
300 __NOTOC__ Year 300 ( CCC) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Constantius and Valerius (or, less frequently, year 1053 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 300 ...
and the
OH-6 Cayuse The Hughes OH-6 Cayuse is a single-engine light helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Hughes Helicopters. Its formal name is derived from the Cayuse people, while its "Loach" nickname is derived from Light Observatio ...
/ Hughes 500.


Howard Hughes Medical Institute sells Hughes Aircraft Company

Hughes left no will, and following his death in 1976, there were numerous claims to his estate. A Hughes executive and a Hughes lawyer claimed they had the right to set up an "executive committee" to take over the running of the HHMI and its Hughes Aircraft subsidiary. The
Attorney General of Delaware The attorney general of Delaware is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of Delaware, and is the chief law officer and the head of the State Department of Justice. On January 1, 2019, Kathy Jennings was sworn in as the 46th attorney genera ...
Richard R. Wier Jr. Richard R. Wier Jr. (born May 19, 1941) is an American politician who served as the Attorney General of Delaware The attorney general of Delaware is a constitutional officer of the U.S. state of Delaware, and is the chief law officer and the ...
challenged this and filed suit in 1978. Charles M. Oberly continued the action when he became attorney general in 1983. Oberly stated he wished to see an independent board of trustees to ensure both that the institute fulfilled its charitable mission and that it did not continue to operate as a tax shelter. In January 1984, Judge Grover C. Brown ruled that the Chancery Court should appoint the trustees because Hughes had not left a succession plan. Brown asked for both the executive committee and the attorney general's office to submit a list of recommendations that he could approve. Brown approved a list in April 1984. In January 1985, the new board of trustees of the HHMI announced they would sell Hughes Aircraft either by private sale or public stock offering.


Hughes Electronics Corporation

On June 5, 1985,
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
was announced as the winner of a secretive five-month sealed-bid auction. Other bidders included
Ford Motor Company Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational corporation, multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. T ...
and
Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
. The purchase was completed on December 20, 1985, for an estimated $5.2 billion, $2.7 billion in cash and the rest in 50 million shares of GM Class H stock. On December 31, 1985, General Motors merged Hughes Aircraft with its
Delco Electronics Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana, that manufactured ''Delco'' Automobile radios and other electric products found in GM cars. In 1972, Gen ...
unit to form
Hughes Electronics Corporation Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Hughes (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hugh ...
, an independent subsidiary. In August 1992, Hughes Aircraft completed its purchase of
General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...
' missile businesses for $450 million. This brought the
Tomahawk Cruise Missile The BGM-109 Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is an American long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations. ...
,
Advanced Cruise Missile The AGM-129 ACM (Advanced Cruise Missile) was a low-observable, subsonic, turbofan-powered, air-launched cruise missile originally designed and built by General Dynamics and eventually acquired by Raytheon Missile Systems. Prior to its withdrawa ...
,
Standard missile Standard Missile refers to a family of American-made shipborne guided missiles: * RIM-66 Standard (SM-1MR/SM-2MR), a medium-range surface-to-air missile, the successor of the RIM-24 Tartar surface-to-air missile, currently in use by the U.S. Navy a ...
,
Stinger missile The FIM-92 Stinger is an American man-portable air-defense system (MANPADS) that operates as an infrared homing surface-to-air missile (SAM). It can be adapted to fire from a wide variety of ground vehicles, and from helicopters and drones as th ...
,
Phalanx The phalanx (: phalanxes or phalanges) was a rectangular mass military formation, usually composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears, pikes, sarissas, or similar polearms tightly packed together. The term is particularly used t ...
Close-in weapon system A close-in weapon system (CIWS ) is a point-defense weapon system for detecting and destroying short-range incoming missiles and enemy aircraft which have penetrated the outer defenses, typically mounted on a naval ship. Nearly all classes of l ...
, and
Rolling Airframe Missile The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile in use by the German, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, South Korean, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Mexican, UAE, and United States navies. It was ...
into Hughes' portfolio. In 1994, Hughes Electronics introduced
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
, the world's first high-powered DBS service. In 1995, its Hughes Space and Communications division became the largest supplier of commercial satellites. That same year, the group purchased
Magnavox Electronic Systems Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", often stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics brand. It was purchased by North American Philips in 1974, which was absorbed into Dutch electronics company Philips in 1987. The predecessor to Magnavox w ...
from the
Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...
. In 1996, Hughes Electronics and
PanAmSat PanAmSat Corporation was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1984 by Reynold "Rene" Anselmo, it operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news a ...
agreed to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat, with Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder. In 1995, Hughes Aircraft sold its Technology Products Division (automated wire and die bonder) to an investor group led by
Citicorp Citigroup Inc. or Citi (Style (visual arts), stylized as citi) is an American multinational investment banking, investment bank and financial services company based in New York City. The company was formed in 1998 by the merger of Citicorp, t ...
and incorporated the division as Palomar Technologies. In 2008, Citicorp sold the bonder division to the current management team at Palomar Technologies. In 1997, GM transferred Delco Electronics to its
Delphi Automotive Systems Aptiv PLC is an Irish- American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Moto ...
business. Later that year, the assets of Hughes Aircraft were sold to
Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is 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 Unite ...
for $9.5 billion. The remaining companies remained under the Hughes Electronics name and within GM. In 2000, Boeing purchased three units within Hughes Electronics Corp.: Hughes Space and Communications Co., Hughes Electron Dynamics, and Spectrolab Inc., in addition to Hughes Electronics' interest in HRL, the company's primary research laboratory. The four joined Boeing Satellite Systems, a company subsidiary, later becoming the Satellite Development Center, part of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. In 2003, the remaining parts of Hughes Electronics (DirecTV, DirecTV Latin America, PanAmSat, Hughes Network Systems) were purchased by
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
from GM and renamed The DirecTV Group.


Corporate legacy

The wide range of science and technology developed by Hughes Aircraft never included medical applications because the company was owned by the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...
(HHMI). This restriction was imposed to avoid even the appearance of a
conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple wikt:interest#Noun, interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates t ...
.''HughesNews'' (the company's weekly newspaper) The money provided to HHMI by Hughes Aircraft led to major improvements in genetics and cancer research. The city of
Fullerton, California Fullerton ( ) is a city located in northern Orange County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 143,617. Fullerton was founded in 1887. It secured the land on behalf of the Atchison, Topeka and S ...
, named Hughes Drive after the site that the company formerly occupied before 1997. After Hughes closed, the city developed Amerige Heights, a residential community.


Timeline

* 1932: Howard Hughes formed Hughes Aircraft Company as a division of Hughes Tool Company. * 1948: Hughes formed the Aerospace Group within the company, divided into: ** Hughes Space and Communications Group ** Hughes Space Systems Division * 1951: Hughes Aircraft opened missile plant in Tucson, Arizona. * 1953: The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) was formed, and Hughes Aircraft reformed as a subsidiary of the foundation. The
Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...
unsuccessfully challenged its "charitable" status which made it tax-exempt. * 1955: Hughes formed its helicopter division, Aircraft Division. * 1960: The first
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...
was produced at
Hughes Research Laboratories Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Hughes (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hugh ...
, by
Theodore Maiman Theodore Harold Maiman (July 11, 1927 – May 5, 2007) was an American engineer and physicist who is widely credited with the invention of the laser.Johnson, John Jr. (May 11, 2008). "Theodore H. Maiman, at age 32; scientist created the first L ...
. * 1961:
Hughes Research Laboratories Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Hughes (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hugh ...
completed their move to Malibu, California. * 1972: Hughes sold the tool division of Hughes Tool Company. His remaining interests were transferred to the newly formed holding company, the
Summa Corporation Summa Corporation was a holding company for the business interests of Howard Hughes after he sold the tool division of Hughes Tool Company in 1972. Its holdings included casino hotels, aviation businesses, and television channels. After Hughes's d ...
. This included Toolco Aircraft and Hughes' property and other businesses. * 1976: Toolco Aircraft became Hughes Helicopters. * 1976: Howard Hughes died at the age of 70, leaving no will. * 1984: The Summa Corporation sold Hughes Helicopters to
McDonnell Douglas McDonnell Douglas Corporation was a major American Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace manufacturing corporation and defense contractor, formed by the merger of McDonnell Aircraft and the Douglas Aircraft Company in 1967. Between then and its own ...
for $500 million; it was soon renamed McDonnell Douglas Helicopters. * 1984: The
Delaware Court of Chancery The Delaware Court of Chancery is a court of equity in the U.S. state of Delaware. It is one of Delaware's three constitutional courts, along with the Supreme Court and Superior Court. Since 2018, the court consists of seven judges. The cour ...
appointed eight trustees to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; they decided to sell Hughes Aircraft. * 1985: The HHMI sold Hughes Aircraft to
General Motors General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. The company is most known for owning and manufacturing f ...
for $5.2 billion. This was merged with GM's
Delco Electronics Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana, that manufactured ''Delco'' Automobile radios and other electric products found in GM cars. In 1972, Gen ...
to form Hughes Electronics Corporation. This group then consisted of: ** Delco Electronics Corporation ** Hughes Aircraft Company * 1987: Hughes Aircraft Company acquired M/A-COM Telecommunications, to form
Hughes Network Systems Hughes Network Systems, LLC is an American telecommunications company that specializes in providing satellite-based communication services for consumer and enterprise markets. It is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland and provides satellite i ...
. * 1994: Hughes Electronics introduced
DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...
. * 1995: Hughes Space and Communications Company became the world's biggest supplier of commercial satellites. * 1995: Hughes Electronics acquired
Magnavox Electronic Systems Magnavox (Latin for "great voice", often stylized as MAGNAVOX) is an American electronics brand. It was purchased by North American Philips in 1974, which was absorbed into Dutch electronics company Philips in 1987. The predecessor to Magnavox w ...
from the
Carlyle Group The Carlyle Group Inc. is an American multinational company with operations in private equity, alternative asset management and financial services. As of 2023, the company had $426 billion of assets under management. Carlyle specializes in ...
. * 1995: Hughes Aircraft acquired CAE-Link; CAE-Link was part of the original company founded by Edwin Link, inventor of the flight simulator. * 1996: Hughes Electronics and
PanAmSat PanAmSat Corporation was a satellite service provider headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1984 by Reynold "Rene" Anselmo, it operated a fleet of communications satellites used by the entertainment industry, news a ...
agreed to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat with Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder. * 1997: GM transferred Delco Electronics from Hughes Electronics to its
Delphi Automotive Systems Aptiv PLC is an Irish- American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Moto ...
. Delphi became independent in 1999. * 1997: The aerospace and defense operations of Hughes Electronics (Hughes Aircraft) merged with
Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is 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 Unite ...
; Raytheon also acquired one half of the
Hughes Research Laboratories Hughes may refer to: People * Hughes (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Hughes (surname), including a list of people with the surname Places Antarctica * Hughes Range (Antarctica), Ross Dependency * Mount Hugh ...
. * 2000: Hughes Space and Communications Company remained independent until 2000, when it was purchased by
Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
and became
Boeing Satellite Development Center 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' Hughes Aircraft#Hughes Space and Communications Group, S ...
. Boeing purchased one third of the HRL Laboratories, LLC which was then co-owned by Boeing, GM and Raytheon. * 2003: The remaining parts of Hughes Electronics (DirecTV, DirecTV Latin America, PanAmSat and
Hughes Network Systems Hughes Network Systems, LLC is an American telecommunications company that specializes in providing satellite-based communication services for consumer and enterprise markets. It is headquartered in Germantown, Maryland and provides satellite i ...
) were purchased by
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
and renamed The DirecTV Group. * 2003: Newscorp sold PanAmSat to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) in August 2004. * 2004: Director
Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...
used the Hughes Aircraft stage in Playa Vista to film the motion-capture sequences in the film '' The Aviator''. * 2004:
SkyTerra SkyTerra (SKYT), formerly Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV or MSVLP), was a Reston, Virginia company that developed telecommunications systems that integrate satellite and terrestrial radio communication technologies into one system. In March 2010, th ...
Communications, Inc. completed its purchase of 100% controlling interest in Hughes Network Systems from the DirecTV Group in January 2006.


Technologies, systems, and products


Air Defense and Air Traffic Control systems

* Japanese Tactical Air Weapons Control System - JTAWCS * Swiss Air Defense System - FLORIDA * Spain Air Defense System - Combat Grande *
Tactical Air Weapons Control System Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tacti ...
*
Joint Surveillance System The Joint Surveillance System (JSS) is a joint United States Air Force and Federal Aviation Administration system for the atmospheric air defense of North America. It replaced the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) system in 1983. Overvie ...
* German Air Defense Ground Environment (GEADGE) **
Integrated NATO Air Defense System The NATO Integrated Air Defense System (short: NATINADS) is a command and control network combining radars and other facilities spread throughout the NATO alliance's air defence forces. It formed in the mid-1950s and became operational in 1962 as ...
** NATO Air Defence Ground Environment (NADGE) - NSPA * Airborne Early Warning / Ground Environment Integration Segment (AEGIS) * Canadian Air Traffic Control System *
Korean Air Traffic Control System Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...
* Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) * AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel *
AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder radar AN/TPQ-36 Firefinder weapon locating system is a transportable radar developed in the mid-late 1970s by Hughes Aircraft Company, manufactured by Northrop Grumman and ThalesRaytheonSystems. After testing the system achieved initial operational ca ...
*
AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder radar AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder Weapon Locating System is a mobile radar system developed in the late 1970s by Hughes Aircraft Company, achieving Initial Operational Capability in 1980 and full deployment in 1984. Currently manufactured by ThalesRaytheonSy ...


Hughes Research Laboratories

* HRL Laboratories


Howard Hughes Medical Institute

*
Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization headquartered in Chevy Chase, Maryland with additional facilities in Ashburn, Virginia. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American busin ...


Aircraft

*
Hughes D-2 The Hughes D-2 was an American fighter and bomber project begun by Howard Hughes as a private venture. It never proceeded past the flight testing phase but was the predecessor of the Hughes XF-11. The sole D-2 was completed in 1942–1943. D ...
*
Hughes H-1 Racer The Hughes H-1 Racer is a racing aircraft built by Hughes Aircraft in 1935. Using different wings, it set both a world airspeed record and a transcontinental speed record across the United States. The H-1 Racer was the last aircraft built by a p ...
*
Hughes H-4 Hercules The Hughes H-4 Hercules (commonly known as the ''Spruce Goose''; Aircraft registration, registration NX37602) is a prototype strategic airlift flying boat designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company. Intended as a transatlantic flight t ...
*
Hughes XF-11 The Hughes XF-11 (redesignated XR-11 in 1948) was a prototype military reconnaissance aircraft designed and flown by Howard Hughes and built by Hughes Aircraft Company for the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF). Although 100 F-11s were o ...


Missiles

*
AIM-4 Falcon The Hughes AIM-4 Falcon was the first operational guided air-to-air missile of the United States Air Force. Development began in 1946; the weapon was first tested in 1949. The missile entered service with the USAF in 1956. Produced in both heat- ...
**
AIM-26 Falcon The AIM-26 Falcon was a larger, more powerful version of the AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile built by Hughes Electronics, Hughes. It is the only guided American air-to-air missile with a nuclear warhead to be produced; the unguided AIR-2 Genie ro ...
**
AIM-47 Falcon The Hughes AIM-47 Falcon, originally GAR-9, was a very long-range high-performance air-to-air missile that shared the basic design of the earlier AIM-4 Falcon. It was developed in 1958 along with the new Hughes AN/ASG-18 radar fire-control sys ...
*
AIM-54 Phoenix The AIM-54 Phoenix is an American active radar-guided, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (AAM), carried in clusters of up to six missiles on the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, its only operational launch platform. The AIM-54 Phoenix was the United S ...
*
AIM-120 AMRAAM The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM) ( ) is an American Beyond-visual-range missile, beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It uses active transmit-receive radar guidance ...
*
AGM-65 Maverick The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) designed for close air support. It is the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world, and is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, a ...
*
BGM-71 TOW The BGM-71 TOW ("Tube-launched, Optically tracked, wire-guided missile, Wire-guided", pronounced ) is an American anti-tank missile. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more ...
* Brazo


Spacecraft

*
HS-333 In 1970, Hughes Aircraft Company (HAC) Space and Communications Group offered the first standardized satellite: the HS 333 design. A spinning satellite, it was based on previous one-design satellites like Intelsat I. HAC built eight of these 300 ...
**
Anik (satellite) The Anik satellites are a series of geostationary communications satellites launched for Telesat Canada for television, voice and data in Canada and other parts of the world, from 1972 through 2013. Some of the later satellites in the series r ...
*
Jarvis (rocket) Jarvis was a proposed American medium-lift launch vehicle for space launch, designed by Hughes Aircraft and Boeing during the mid-1980s as part of the joint United States Air Force (USAF)/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Adva ...
* ''Magellan'' (spacecraft) *
Morelos Satellite System The ''Morelos'' satellites are a series of Mexican communications satellites. The first two operated between 1985 and 1998 and provided telephony, data, and television services over the territory of the Mexican Republic and adjacent areas. ...
*
Paksat-1 Paksat-1, (Other former designation as Palapa-C1, HGS-3 and Anatolia-1), was a geosynchronous and communications satellite built and owned by the Boeing Company, leased to the Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and renamed P ...
satellite *
Pioneer program The Pioneer programs were two series of United States lunar and planetary space probes. The first program, which ran from 1958 to 1960, unsuccessfully attempted to send spacecraft to orbit the Moon, successfully sent one spacecraft to fly by the ...
**
Pioneer Venus Multiprobe The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, also known as Pioneer Venus 2 or Pioneer 13, was a spacecraft launched in 1978 to explore Venus as part of NASA's Pioneer program. This part of the mission included a Satellite bus, spacecraft bus which was launched ...
**
Pioneer Venus Orbiter The ''Pioneer Venus Orbiter'', also known as ''Pioneer Venus 1'' or ''Pioneer 12'', was a mission to Venus conducted by NASA as part of the Pioneer Venus project. Launched in May 1978 atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, the spacecraft was inserted into ...
*
Surveyor program The Surveyor program was a NASA program that, from June 1966 through January 1968, sent seven robotic spacecraft to the surface of the Moon. Its primary goal was to demonstrate the feasibility of Soft landing (rocketry), soft landings on the Moo ...
**
Surveyor 1 Surveyor 1 was the first lunar soft-lander in the uncrewed Surveyor program of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA, United States). This lunar soft-lander gathered data about the lunar surface that would be needed for the c ...
**
Surveyor 2 Surveyor 2 was to be the second lunar lander in the uncrewed American Surveyor program to explore the Moon. After launch on September 20, 1966, a mid-course correction failure resulted in the spacecraft losing control. Contact was lost with the sp ...
**
Surveyor 3 Surveyor 3 is the third lander of the American uncrewed Surveyor program sent to explore the surface of the Moon in 1967 and the second to successfully land. It was the first mission to carry a surface-soil sampling-scoop. Surveyor 3 was vis ...
** Surveyor 4 ** Surveyor 5 ** Surveyor 6 **
Surveyor 7 Surveyor 7 was sent to the Moon in 1968 on a scientific and photographic mission as the seventh and last lunar lander of the American uncrewed Surveyor program. With two previous unsuccessful missions in the Surveyor series, and with Surveyor 7's ...


Torpedo

* Mk-48 ADCAP


References


Bibliography

* * * Gart, Jason H. "Electronics and Aerospace Industry in Cold War Arizona, 1945–1968: Motorola, Hughes Aircraft, Goodyear Aircraft". Ph.D. diss., Arizona State University, 2006. * Marrett, George J. ''Howard Hughes: Aviator'', Naval Institute Press, 2004. * Marrett, George J. ''Testing Death: Hughes Aircraft Test Pilots and Cold War Weaponry'', Praeger Publishing, 2006. ** Parker, Dana T. ''Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,'' Cypress, CA. . * D. Kenneth Richardson (2011). ''Hughes After Howard: The Story of Hughes Aircraft Company''. Sea Hill Press. . * Walter Sobkiw (2011). ''Systems Practices as Common Sense''. CassBeth. .


External links


Hughes aircraft history on CentennialofFlight.net
* * * {{Authority control
Aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
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