Exelis Inc., was a global aerospace, defense, information and services company created in October 2011 as a result of the spinoff of

ITT Corporation ITT Inc., formerly ITT Corporation, is an American worldwide manufacturing company based in Stamford, Connecticut. The company produces specialty components for the aerospace, transportation, energy and industrial markets. ITT's three businesses ...

's defense business into an independent, publicly traded company. The company was headquartered in

Tysons Corner, Virginia Tysons, also known as Tysons Corner, is a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States, spanning from the corner of SR 123 (Chain Bridge Road) and SR 7 (Leesburg Pike). It is part of the Washington metropolitan are ...

, USA and was led by CEO and President David F. Melcher. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' highlighted Exelis as a top company in the

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

region in 2011. It was acquired by the

Harris Corporation Harris Corporation was an American technology company, defense contractor, and information technology service (economics), services provider that produced wireless equipment, tactical radios, electronic systems, night vision device, night visi ...

for $4.75 billion in 2015.

History

''For more detailed company history prior to October 31, 2011, see

'' Exelis Inc. was originally the Defense division of

, alongside its Industrial Process & Flow Control division and Water & Waste Water division. ITT was founded as the small communications company Puerto Rico Telephone Company by brothers

Sosthenes Sosthenes (Greek: Σωσθένης, ''Sōsthénēs'', "safe in strength") was the chief ruler of the synagogue at Corinth, who, according to the Acts of the Apostles, was seized and beaten by the mob in the presence of Gallio, the Roman governo ...

and Hernan Behn. Through a series of business and patent acquisitions, the company grew and was renamed International Telephone and Telegraph in 1920. ITT continued to grow before appointing Harold Geneen as CEO in 1959. Until his retirement from the position in 1977, Geneen was responsible for growing the company from a medium-sized business earning $765 million in 1961 to an international conglomerate making $17 billion in sales in 1970. The company acquired more than 350 companies during Geneen's tenure; at one point the acquisition rate reached one deal per week. Ownership extended over such notable companies as Continental Baking, maker of

Wonder Bread Wonder Bread is an American brand of sliced bread. Established in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1921, it was one of the first companies to sell sliced bread nationwide by 1930. The brand is currently owned by Flowers Foods in the United States. His ...

and the

Twinkie The Twinkie is an American snack cake, described on its packaging as "golden sponge cake with a creamy filling". It was formerly made and distributed by Hostess Brands. The brand is currently owned by Hostess Brands, Inc., in turn currently own ...

Sheraton Hotels Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an American international hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Centr ...

and Avis Rent-A-Car. For a brief period in the mid-1960s, ITT was in talks to acquire the

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

television and radio networks in the US, but that deal fell through under regulatory scrutiny. Following Geneen's retirement, ITT went through a restructuring phase under CEO Rand Araskog and was split into three companies in 1995:

(formerly ITT Industries), ITT Sheraton, and

The Hartford The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc., usually known as The Hartford, is an American investment and insurance company. The Hartford is a Fortune 500 company headquartered in its namesake city of Hartford, Connecticut. It was ranked 160th in Fortune ...

, an insurance company.

2011 spin-off

On January 12, 2011, the ITT Corporation Board of Directors approved a plan to split the firm. On October 31, 2011, ITT Corporation spun off its defense and water technology businesses to form three separate, publicly traded companies: * Exelis Inc., a global aerospace, defense, information and services company headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia. * Xylem Inc., a water technology firm. *

, a manufacturing firm. From the spin-off to Nov. 1, 2013, Exelis was known as ITT Exelis to help ease the transition of the company's brand. Exelis employed approximately 19,000 people and generated $5.5 billion in sales in 2012. On February 13, 2013, Exelis announced that it would be closing its West Springfield manufacturing plant and laying off 200 employees after citing expected cuts in U.S. defense spending.

2015 purchase

In February 2015, Exelis announced that plans had been approved for the sale of the company through a cash/stock purchase to competitor

. The purchase price of 4.75 billion dollars was reported as being one of the highest such defense company purchases, since the Lockheed/Martin merger. When finalized in June 2015, the purchase was expected to make Harris/Exelis one of the top 10 defense contractors in the United States.

Company structure

Exelis had six businesses that specialized in different technologies and services.

Aerostructures

Located in

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

the Exelis Aerostructures business was a designer and manufacturer of lightweight composite aerospace structures, subassemblies and components. Major Products:
Exelis Aerostructures was a subcontractor for the Boeing 7-series family of aircraft, including composite air-frame substructures for the 787 Dreamliner, the

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...

aircraft as well as the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter. For defense programs, they provided complete structural assemblies, flight critical components as well as primary and secondary structural elements for platforms such as the

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, supersonic Stealth aircraft, stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both Air superiority fighter, air superiority and att ...

, the Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion Heavy Lift Helicopter, the

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) between the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two previ ...

and the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). Exelis also produced the Bear Claw line of down-hole drillable plugs used in oil and gas well completions.

Electronic Systems

Headquartered in

Clifton, New Jersey Clifton is a city in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Criss-crossed by several major highways, the city is a regional commercial hub for North Jersey and is a bedroom suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan Area.L ...

, with a major division in Salt Lake City, Utah, the electronics systems division of the company offered a variety of electronic warfare and surveillance technologies, including air traffic control technology for both military and domestic use, radar and sonar systems, antennas and signal-jamming devices to disarm improvised explosive devices (IED). Major Products: * ALQ-214 IDECM (Integrated Electronic Countermeasures)

Geospatial Systems

With facilities located in Clifton, New Jersey and

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

, the geospatial systems division manufactured and provided GPS technology (Clifton), surveillance systems (Rochester) and data encryption services, as well as

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an physical object, object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring inform ...

and navigation technology. The company also included facilities in Ft. Wayne that designed and manufactured instruments for weather tracking systems. Major Products and Solutions:

Information Systems

The information systems division was headquartered in

Herndon, Virginia Herndon is a town in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia, it is part of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. In 2020, the population at the census was 24,655, which makes i ...

. The division specialized in creating secure information and electronics systems for specific and often challenging environments, including defense and intelligence missions, the Census Bureau, homeland security, air traffic control and space missions.

Mission Systems

Headquartered in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

, Mission Systems provided facilities, engineering, logistics and security support for U.S. military bases domestically and abroad.

Night Vision & Communications Solutions

Located in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and

Roanoke, Virginia Roanoke ( ) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia, United States. It lies in Southwest Virginia, along the Roanoke River, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blue Ridge range of the greater Appalachian Mountains. Roanok ...

, Exelis Night Vision & Communications Solutions (NVCS) provided products and services for secure voice and data communications, battlefield situational awareness, and night vision systems in the global defense, security, and battlefield management sectors. ;Major Products: *

SINCGARS Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System (SINCGARS) is a VHF combat network radio (CNR) used by U.S. and allied military forces. In the CNR network, the SINCGARS’ primary role is voice transmission between surface and airborne comman ...

– Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System, military communications system. * GNOMAD (Global Network On the Move – Active Distribution), satellite military data communications system

Exelis Action Corps

Exelis Action Corps was the company's volunteer-service program designed to create large-scale, team and individual volunteer activities and projects to support and engage service members, veterans and their families in local communities. Activities ranged from providing interviewing coaching to a military service member, to painting a house for a disabled veteran, to tutoring the children of a service member serving abroad.

Leadership prior to acquisition

Board of directors

* Ralph W. Hake :Chairman of the Board * David F. Melcher :Chief Executive Officer * John J. Hamre * Paul J. Kern * Herman E. Bulls * Patrick Moore * Mark L. Reuss * Billie I. Williamson * R. David Yost

Management Team

* David F. Melcher :President * Peter J. Milligan :Chief Financial Officer * Ann D. Davidson :Chief Legal Officer * A. John Procopio :Chief Human Resources Officer * Robert E. Durbin :Strategy and Government Relations * Mike Blair :Vice President of Aerostructures * Richard D. Sorelle :President of Electronic Systems * Christopher D. Young :President of Geospatial Systems * Pamela A. Drew :President of Information Systems * Kenneth W. Hunzeker :President of Mission Systems * David J. Albritton :Chief Communications Officer * Nicholas E. Bobay :President of Night Vision & Communications Systems * Vincent Thomas :Vice President of Operations * Katy Herr :Vice President of Investor Relations

Customers

Customers included: *

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

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 ...

US Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the Marines, maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expedi ...

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

The company also had clients in more than 50 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, as well as Australia.

References

External links

* {{ITT Corporation 2015 mergers and acquisitions Aerospace companies of the United States Companies based in Fairfax County, Virginia Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Corporate spin-offs Former defense companies of the United States ITT Inc. L3Harris Technologies Manufacturing companies established in 2011 Manufacturing companies based in Virginia