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Throughout the last 50 years,
Textron Systems Corporation ("Textron Systems")
and its individual operating units have earned a reputation
for excellence in developing winning solutions to the most
complex engineering challenges.
While Textron Defense Systems
as we know it today was actually born with the founding of
Avco Research and Advanced Development (RAD) in 1955, that
history of excellence dates back to a much earlier part of
the 20th century - with the founding of Textron Corporation
("Textron") in 1923, and the birth of Avco Corporation
("Avco") six years later. Throughout their histories,
both companies embodied the spirit of innovation, cultivating
talent and taking calculated risks that are at the heart of
today's Textron Defense Systems.
Marked as "Golden Days
of Aviation", the early 1930's gave rise to phenomenal
growth for aircraft manufacturers and transport companies
in the United States. Lycoming joined Avco as a subsidiary
in 1935, and is today an Operating Unit of Textron Systems
Corporation. Textron, on the other hand, was engaged in businesses
that in no way resembled the defense technology innovator
that Textron Systems is today. Known as a textile business,
the company made parachutes for the U.S. government, and after
a restructuring of the company in the late 1940's, the company
changed its name to "Textron".
Avco made its first major foray
into the defense industry in the 1950s when the company helped
the U.S. Air Force resolve recurring reentry problems with
the new intercontinental ballistic missile system (ICBM) program.
The events that followed - 1955
birth of Avco Everett Research Lab (AERL) and Avco Research
and Advanced Development (RAD) Division - marked the beginning
of what would later become Textron Systems.
By 1960, both Textron and Avco
relied heavily on diversification as a means of sustaining
success through economic peaks and valleys. But while Avco
had been immersed in the aeronautics business since the company's
birth, Textron first ventured into this industry in 1960 with
its purchase of Bell Aerospace, which included Bell Helicopter.
During the 1970's, Avco RAD
started a diversification effort to add capabilities in tactical
weapons to its strategic weapons portfolio, with research
that would lead to such important innovations as Wide Area
Munition (WAM) and Sensor Fuzed Weapon (SFW). It was a decision
that showed great foresight - successful emerging weapon systems
initiatives continue here today.
In December 1984, Textron acquired
Avco, by now a defense industry leader boasting revenues of
$2.9 billion. Textron Corporation instantly doubled in size.
Part of this new Textron division, initially called Avco Systems
Textron, was soon re-named Textron Defense Systems in 1985.
Over the years, other Textron Corporation holdings were folded
into the mix, to be managed by this unique business unit with
a proven ability to cultivate and breed success. With the
diversification of this division in the mid-1990's came the
name Textron Systems Corporation.
In January 2007, Textron Systems
announced that it changed its name back to Textron Defense
Systems and that the company would become one of five operating
units functioning within Textron Systems Corporation. By adding
"defense" to its name, the company has re-affirmed
its vision and mission to its customers, shareholders and
employees.
Textron Defense Systems continues
to nurture the spirit of discovery and invention that led
to the creation of its parents, Textron Corporation and Avco
Corporation, so many decades ago. Our mission remains constant:
to apply innovative technology solutions, intelligent science
and engineering know-how that enable our customers to achieve
their most important and challenging goals.
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