Aerojet was founded in 1942 on the dreams of a small group of scientists
led by Dr. Theodore von Karman, an internationally acclaimed professor from
the California Institute of Technology. The company's first product—Jet Assist Take Off (JATO) rocket motors—provided extra boosting
power for U.S. military planes during World War II.
Dramatic growth in new products and technologies in the 1950s and 1960s
led Aerojet to build what, at the time, was the free world's largest
site for rocket engine development, testing, and production at a facility
near Sacramento, Calif. Today, it serves as Aerojet's headquarters and
site of missile and space propulsion operations.
The era of space exploration in the 1960s was a time of intense activity
and excitement at Aerojet, with Aerojet engines propelling Gemini missions
into space and Aerojet's Apollo Space Propulsion System placing astronauts
in orbit around the moon and bringing them home again.
In the 1970s and 1980s, Aerojet emerged as an innovator in the field of
space electronics, including satellite sensors for weather forecasting and
missile detection. Aerojet and its subsidiary, Aerojet Ordnance Tennessee, Inc. (AOT), also became leaders in the development of ordnance items such as specialized warheads, air-dispensed munitions systems, and medium- and large-caliber
ammunition components. Combining these strengths, Aerojet developed "smart"
weapons for use against tanks and other armored vehicles.
Meanwhile, Aerojet continued to design and build innovative and highly reliable
propulsion systems such as the Space Shuttle Orbital Maneuvering System engines,
which have performed with a 100 percent success rate on every Shuttle flight.
After divesting its space electronics division in 2001, Aerojet embarked
on a strategy to become a market leader in the development of diversified
propulsion systems, culminating in the acquisition of the General Dynamics'
Space Systems business in Redmond, Wash.— a leading developer and manufacturer
of spacecraft propulsion, electric propulsion, fire suppression technologies,
and Missile Defense applications; and the propulsion business of Atlantic Research Corporation in Gainesville,
Va.— a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced solid rocket
propulsion systems, gas generators and auxiliary rocket motors for both space
and defense applications.
The acquisitions were strategic fits for Aerojet, enabling it to combine
the strength, technology and capabilities of three businesses, and turn them
into one company with a common vision and strategy, drawing on the widest
range of propulsion disciplines ever assembled. The aerospace company that
was founded in southern California now has manufacturing sites across the
country — in Washington, California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Utah, Virginia, and Tennessee — and continues its role as a leader in the U.S.
propulsion industry.
Today's Aerojet boasts in-space propulsion on every NASA Discovery
mission, a significant role in the nation's missile defense program
and strongholds in the tactical defense propulsion and launch-vehicle propulsion
markets.
Aerojet is long recognized for its decades of experience supplying liquid
engines for the workhorse U.S. launch vehicles Titan and Delta, and it now
has a significant market in tactical missile propulsion and a successful air-breathing
propulsion program.
As Aerojet continues to use innovative solutions for producing a wide range
of propulsion and specialty metals systems, it never loses sight of its most important
mission: Developing technologies and products that help its customers meet
their ever-changing objectives.
