Aerojet
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Aerojet is a major rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Sacramento, California with divisions in Redmond, WA; Orange, VA; Gainesville, VA; and Camden, AR. Their products include a wide range of propulsion, from main engines used on a number of NASA vehicles and ballistic missiles, down to stationkeeping thrusters for spacecraft. The propulsion devices also include rocket motors as large as the EELV ATLAS 5 strap-on rocket boosters to providing almost all of the Army's tactical missile rocket motors. Aerojet is also a leader in the development and manufacture of a wide range of air breathing RAM and SCRAM jet engines. Aerojet is also leading the way in the US in the area of electric ion and hall effect thrusters. Aerojet is one of only a very small number of companies that was dedicated almost entirely to rocket engines, the other being their rivals at Rocketdyne (liquid rocket engines) and ATK (solid rocket motors).
Aerojet developed from a 1936 meeting hosted by Theodore von Karman at his house. Attending were a number of other Caltech professors and students, as well as self-taught rocketry experts Jack Parsons and Ed Forman, all of whom were interested in the topic of space flight. The group continued to meet time to time, but was essentially limited to discussions as opposed to experimentation. Things changed in 1938 when the US Army offered two research projects, one for windshield de-icing on aircraft, and another for rocket engines to launch aircraft (today known as JATO). Dr. Jerome Hunsaker at MIT had the first pick, and feeling that the rocket research was a "Buck Rogers" project, left rockets to the CalTech team.
Their first design was tested on August 16, 1941, consisting of a small cylindrical solid fuel motor attached to the bottom of a plane. The takeoff distance was shortened by half, and the USAAF placed an order for experimental production versions. On March 19, 1942 the company was officially formed in Azusa, CA, known as Aerojet Engineering. In 1943 the Army Air Forces finally placed a full order, demanding that 2000 be delivered before year-end. The company also invested in pure rocket research, developing both a liquid fueled design, and a new solid fuel design based on a rubber binding agent in partnership with General Tire. In the immediate post-war era Aerojet downsized dramatically, but their JATO units continued to sell for commercial aircraft operating in hot-and-high conditions.
By 1950 their research into the rubber-binder had led to much larger engines, and then to the development of the Aerobee sounding rocket. Aerobee was the first US designed rocket to reach space (albeit not orbit), and completed over 1000 flights before it was retired in 1985. The newly-formed US Air Force used Aerojet as the primary supplier on a number of their ICBM projects, including the Titan and Minuteman missiles. They also delivered propulsion systems for the US Navy's submarine-launched Polaris missile. A new plant was set up in Sacramento that took over most rocket construction, while the original Azusa offices returned primarily to research. One of Azusa's major projects was the development of the infra-red detectors for the Defense Support Program satellites, used to detect ICBM launches from space. The new research arm was formed as Aerojet Electronics, and after purchasing a number of ordinance companies, Aerojet Ordinance was created as well. A new umbrella organization oversaw the three major divisions, Aerojet General.
President Kennedy's challenge to place man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s led to increased civilian work at Aerojet. In the past they had repeatedly lost contracts for large engines for the Saturn and Nova boosters, being designed in the late 1950s, typically to their rival Rocketdyne, but in the end were selected to develop and build the main engine for the Apollo Command/Service Module. In 1962 they were also selected to design a new upper-stage engine to replace the cluster of five J-2s used on the Saturn second stage in the post-Apollo era, but work on their resulting M-1 design was later ended in 1965 when it became clear the public's support for a massive space program was waning.
The 1960s were also marked by an increased demand for various ordinance for the Vietnam War, which Aerojet had branched into in the late 1950s. Similar work continued in the 1970s, delivering the 2nd stage motor for the MX missile, the thruster systems for the Space Shuttle, and the first US-designed cluster bombs. A contract for 30mm ammunition for the A-10 Thunderbolt II was so extensive that new branch plants were set up in Downey and Chino in 1978. Aerojet also purchased a number of other firms over this period, and their plant in Jonesborough, TN developed the use of depleted uranium ordinance. To this day they are the primary supplier of these weapons. Their electronics and ordinance divisions also collaborated on the SADARM 8" anti-armor artillery round, but this was not put into production.
The 1980s saw a brief revival of the aerospace business during the heyday of Reagan's SDI program, but the company shrank continually during the late 1980s and into the 1990s.
[edit] Aerojet today
As Aerojet downsized, many of their industrial plants were idled, and the company looked for ways to capitalize them. Their massive investment in chemical mixing equipment used to build their solid fuel rockets was later leased to third parties, notably pharmaceutical companies, under the name Aerojet Fine Chemicals. The division was later sold. Aerojet Real Estate was "more direct", leasing buildings, or selling off undeveloped land. It owns approximately 12,600 acres (51 km²) of land, located 15 miles (24 km) northeast of downtown Sacramento.
The remaining research and development sections of Aerojet are currently organized into the Aerospace and Defense division (ADS). They continue to develop and produce liquid, solid, and air-breathing engines for strategic and tactical missiles, precision strike missiles, and interceptors required for missile defense. Product applications for defense systems include strategic and tactical missile motors; maneuvering propulsion systems; attitude control systems; and warhead assemblies used in precision weapon systems and missile defense, as well as airframe structures required on the F-22 Raptor aircraft and fire suppression systems for military and commercial vehicles. Their space-related products include liquid engines for expendable and reusable launch vehicles, upper stage engines, satellite propulsion, large solid boosters, and integrated propulsion subsystems.
Most recently, Aerojet successfully qualified a 4.5kW Hall effect thruster electric propulsion system, which is the most powerful flight qualified hall thruster system in the world. Initially, the system will be for use on large, high-power communications satellites. The electric propulsion system, a popular choice for improving spacecraft efficiency in orbit, is now certified for flight for a variety of commercial and government programs. Aerojet is under contract to Lockheed Martin to provide the first two shipsets of the new thruster system for the next generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) system, an Air Force program.
Aerojet is currently owned by the company formerly known as the General Tire & Rubber Company, which changed its name to GenCorp in 1984. GenCorp is headquartered in Rancho Cordova, California.
