Exelis Inc.

Exelis Inc.
Traded as NYSE: XLS
Industry Defense
Predecessor ITT Corporation's defense business
Founded October 2011
Headquarters Tysons Corner, Virginia, U.S.
(McLean mailing address), United States
Key people
 David F. Melcher (President and CEO)
Number of employees
 19,000
Divisions
  • Aerostructures
  • Electronic Systems
  • Geospatial Systems
  • Information Systems
  • Mission Systems
  • Night Vision and Communications Solutions
Website exelisinc.com

Exelis Inc., is a global aerospace, defense, information and services company[1] created in October 2011 as a result of the spinoff of ITT Corporation's defense business into an independent, publicly traded company.[2] The company is headquartered in Tysons Corner, Virginia, USA and is led by CEO and President David F. Melcher. The Washington Post highlighted Exelis as a top company in the Washington, DC region in 2011.[3]

History

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

Exelis Inc. is one of three major companies that made up ITT Corporation, a company that provided numerous communications, defense and water services. ITT was originally founded as the small communications company Puerto Rico Telephone Company by brothers Sosthenes and Hernan Behn. Through a series of business and patent acquisitions, the company grew and was renamed International Telephone and Telegraph in 1920.[4] 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.[5] 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 and the Twinkie, Sheraton Hotels and Avis Rent-A-Car.[4] For a brief period in the mid-1960s, ITT was in talks to acquire the ABC television and radio networks in the USA, 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: ITT Corporation (formerly ITT Industries), Starwood Hotels and Resorts and The Hartford Financial Services Group, an insurance company.[4]

2011 Spin-Off

On January 12, 2011, the ITT Corporation Board of Directors approved a plan to split the company. On October 31, 2011, ITT Corporation spun off its defense and water technology businesses to form three separate, publicly traded companies:[4]

From the spin off to Nov. 1, 2013, Exelis was known as ITT Exelis to help ease the transition of the company's brand.[6] Exelis employs approximately 19,000 people and generated $5.5 billion in sales in 2012.[1]

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 Harris Corporation. The purchase price of 4.75 billion dollars is reported as being one of the highest such defense company purchases, since the Lockheed/Martin merger. When finalized in June 2015, the purchase is expected to make Harris/Exelis one of the top 10 defense contractors in the United States. [7][8]

Company structure

Exelis has six businesses that specialize in different technologies and services.

Aerostructures

Located in Salt Lake City, Utah the Exelis Aerostructures business is a designer and manufacturer of lightweight composite aerospace structures, subassemblies and components.

Major Products:
Exelis Aerostructures is a subcontractor for the Boeing 7-series family of aircraft, including composite air-frame substructures for the 787 Dreamliner, the Airbus A380 aircraft as well as the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter. For defense programs, they provide 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 Sikorsky CH-53K King Stallion Heavy Lift Helicopter, the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III and the Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM).[9] Exelis also produces the Bear Claw line of down-hole drillable plugs used in oil and gas well completions.[10]

Electronic Systems

Headquartered in Clifton, NJ, with a major division in Salt Lake City, UT, the electronics systems division of the company offers 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:

Geospatial Systems

Located in Rochester, NY, the geospatial systems division manufactures and provides GPS technology, surveillance systems and data encryption services, as well as remote sensing and navigation technology.

Major Products and Solutions:

Information Systems

The information systems division is headquartered in Herndon, Va. The division specializes 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, Colo., Mission systems provides facilities, engineering, logistics and security support for U.S. military bases domestically and abroad.

Night Vision & Communications Solutions

Located in Ft. Wayne, Ind. and Roanoke, Va., Exelis Night Vision & Communications Solutions (NVCS)[11] provides 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:

Exelis Action Corps

Exelis Action Corps is 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 can range 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

Board of Directors

Chairman of the Board
Chief Executive Officer

Management Team

President
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Legal Officer
Chief Human Resources Officer
Strategy and Government Relations
Vice President of Aerostructures
President of Electronic Systems
President of Geospatial Systems
President of Information Systems
President of Mission Systems
Chief Communications Officer
President of Night Vision & Communications Systems
Vice President of Operations

Customers

Azerbaijan-U.S. ICT Forum, December 3, 2013

Customers currently include:

The company also has clients in more than 50 countries in Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, as well as Australia.[12]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Exelis board approves $0.1033 per share dividend for the fourth quarter of 2013
  2. ↑ ITT Corp. makes it official: Defense, IS is ITT Exelis
  3. ↑ 2011 Washington Post 200
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Exelis - History of Exelis
  5. ↑ Harold Geneen
  6. ↑ Exelis reports second-quarter 2013 financial results; reaffirms full-year guidance
  7. ↑ http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2015/02/06/harris-corporation-to-buy-defense-and-aerospace-contractor-exelis-for-4-7-billion/?_r=0
  8. ↑ http://breakingdefense.com/2015/02/second-course-of-last-supper-harris-to-buy-exelis/
  9. ↑ Exelis, Aerostructures
  10. ↑ Exelis, Aerostructures, Bear Claw
  11. ↑ Exelis - Night Vision and Communications Solutions
  12. ↑ http://www.exelisinc.com/business/customers/Pages/default.aspx

External links