American aerospace and defense company (1934?1997)
Hughes Aircraft Company
Hughes Aircraft Company logo, during most of the company's first 50 years
|
Industry
| Aerospace
and
defense
(Defense and Communications Electronics)
|
---|
Founded
| 1934
; 90 years ago
(
1934
)
in
Glendale, California
|
---|
Founder
| Howard Hughes
|
---|
Defunct
| 1997
; 27 years ago
(
1997
)
|
---|
Fate
| Sold to
Raytheon
|
---|
Headquarters
| ,
United States
|
---|
Key people
| |
---|
Revenue
| $11B peak, 1986
|
---|
Owner
| Hughes Tool Company (1934)
Howard Hughes Medical Institute (1953)
General Motors Corp (1985)
|
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Number of employees
| 84,000 peak, 1985
|
---|
The
Hughes Aircraft Company
was a major American
aerospace
and
defense contractor
founded on February 14, 1934 by
Howard Hughes
in
Glendale, California
, as a division of
Hughes Tool Company
.
The company produced the
Hughes H-4 Hercules
aircraft, the atmospheric entry probe carried by the
Galileo
spacecraft
, and the
AIM-4 Falcon
guided
missile
.
[2]
[3]
Hughes Aircraft was founded to build Hughes'
H-1 Racer
world speed record aircraft, and it later modified other aircraft for his transcontinental and global circumnavigation speed record flights. The company relocated to
Culver City, California
, in 1940 and began manufacturing aircraft parts as a subcontractor.
Hughes attempted to mold it into a major military aircraft manufacturer during
World War II
. However, its early military projects ended in failure, with millions of dollars in U.S. government funds expended but only three aircraft actually built, resulting in a highly publicized
U.S. Senate
investigation into alleged mismanagement.
The U.S. military consequently hesitated to award new aircraft contracts to Hughes Aircraft, prompting new management in the late 1940s to instead pursue contracts for
fire-control systems
and
guided missiles
, which were new technologies. The company soon became a highly profitable industry leader in these fields.
In a 1953 accounting maneuver designed to reduce his
income tax
liabilities, Howard Hughes donated most of Hughes Aircraft's stock and assets to a charity he created, the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI), and subsequently ceased managing the company directly.
Hughes retained a small cadre of engineers under his personal control as the
Hughes Tool Company Aircraft Division
, which initially operated from the same Culver City complex as Hughes Aircraft, despite being separately owned and managed. This entity subsequently became fully independent from Hughes Aircraft and changed its name to
Hughes Helicopters
.
After Hughes' 1976 death, Hughes Aircraft was acquired by
General Motors
from HHMI in 1985 and was put under the umbrella of
Hughes Electronics
which became
DirecTV
, until GM sold its assets to
Raytheon
in 1997.
[11]
[12]
History
[
edit
]
During
World War II
the company designed and built several
prototype
aircraft at
Hughes Airport
. These included the famous
Hughes H-4 Hercules
, better known by the public's nickname for it, the
Spruce Goose
, the
H-1
racer,
D-2
, and the
XF-11
.
[13]
However the plant's
hangars
at Hughes Airport, location of present-day
Playa Vista
in the
Westside
of
Los Angeles, California
, were primarily used as a
branch plant
for the construction of other companies' designs. At the start of the war Hughes Aircraft had only four full-time employees?by the end the number was 80,000.
[14]
[15]
During the war, the company was awarded contracts to build B-25 struts, centrifugal cannons, and machine gun feed chutes.
[16]
Post?World War II
[
edit
]
Hughes Aircraft was one of many aerospace and defense companies which flourished in
Southern California
during and after
World War II
and was at one time the largest employer in the area.
Yet, employment had dropped to 800 by 1947. By the summer of 1947 certain politicians had become concerned about Hughes' alleged mismanagement of the Spruce Goose and the
XF-11
photo reconnaissance plane project. They formed a special committee to investigate Hughes which culminated in a much-followed Senate investigation, one of the first to be televised to the public. Despite a highly critical committee report, Hughes was cleared.
[16]
: 198?207, 259
The company then expanded into the booming electronics field, eventually employing 3,300 Ph.D.s. Hughes hired
Ira Eaker
,
Harold L. George
, and
Tex Thornton
to run the company. By 1953, the company employed 17,000 and had $600,000,000 in government contracts.
[16]
: 259?269
In 1948 Hughes created a new division of the company, the
Aerospace Group
. Two Hughes engineers,
Simon Ramo
and
Dean Wooldridge
, had new ideas on the packaging of electronics to make complete
fire control systems
. Their
MA-1
system combined signals from the aircraft's
radar
with a
digital computer
to automatically guide the
interceptor aircraft
into the proper position for firing missiles. At the same time other teams were working with the newly formed
US Air Force
on air-to-air missiles, delivering the
AIM-4 Falcon
, then known as the F-98. The MA-1/Falcon package, with several upgrades, was the primary interceptor weapon system of the USAF for many years, lasting into the 1980s. Ramo and Wooldridge, having failed to reach an agreement with Howard Hughes regarding management problems, resigned in September 1953 and founded the
Ramo-Wooldridge Corporation
, later to join
Thompson Products
to form the
Thompson-Ramo-Wooldridge
based in
Canoga Park
, with Hughes leasing space for
nuclear research
programs (present day
West Hills
(Canoga Park)).
[17]
The company became
TRW
in 1965, another aerospace company and a major competitor to Hughes Aircraft.
In 1951 Hughes Aircraft Co. built a missile plant in
Tucson, Arizona
due to Howard Hughes' fear that his Culver City, California plant could be attacked. By the end of that year, the
U.S. Air Force
had purchased the property and contracted Hughes (and subsequently
Raytheon
[18]
) to operate the site as
Air Force Plant 44
.
Howard Hughes donated Hughes Aircraft to the newly formed
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI) in 1953 allegedly as a way of avoiding taxes on its huge income.
[19]
The next year,
Lawrence A. "Pat" Hyland
was hired as vice president and general manager of Hughes Aircraft; he would ultimately become company president and CEO after Howard Hughes' death in 1976.
Under Hyland's guidance, the Aerospace Group continued to diversify and become massively profitable, and became a primary focus of the company. The company developed
radar
systems, electro-optical systems, the first working
laser
, aircraft computer systems, missile systems,
ion-propulsion engines
(for space travel), and many other advanced technologies. The 'Electronic Properties Information Center' (EPIC) of the United States was hosted at the Hughes Culver City library in the 1970s. EPIC published the multi-volume
Handbook of Electronic Materials
as public documents.
[20]
Nobel Laureates
Richard Feynman
and
Murray Gell-Mann
had Hughes connections: Feynman would hold weekly seminars at
Hughes Research Laboratories
; Gell-Mann shared an office with Malcolm Currie, later a chairman of the board and chief executive officer at Hughes Aircraft.
Greg Jarvis
and
Ronald McNair
, two of the astronauts on the
last flight
of the
Space Shuttle
Challenger
, were Hughes alumni.
Ground Systems Group
[
edit
]
Hughes Aircraft Ground Systems Group was located in
Fullerton, California
. The facility was 3 million square feet and included manufacturing, laboratories, offices, and a Munson road test course. It designed developed and produced the Air Defense Systems that replaced the
Semi Automatic Defense Ground Environment (SAGE)
in the United States with the
Joint Surveillance System (JSS)
AN/FYQ-93
including
NORAD
with
Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS)
and provided defense systems and air traffic control systems around the world. These systems are massive and at its peak Ground Systems Group employed 15,000 people and generated revenue in excess of $1 billion per year.
[
citation needed
]
These systems included the following Ground Systems Group subsystems: Computer H5118, Consoles HMD-22 and HMD-44, Liquid Crystal Large Screen Displays, and Software that set the standard for software development
[21]
based on science and engineering starting with the Combat Grande System. Ground Systems Group was known to push technology envelopes in the computers, displays, local area networks, human interfaces, and software in their systems. They also blazed the path to very highly distributed human intensive systems.
Hughes Space and Communications Group
[
edit
]
Hughes Space and Communications Group and the Hughes Space Systems Division built the world's first geosynchronous
communications satellite
,
Syncom
, in 1963 and followed by the first geosynchronous weather satellite, ATS-1, in 1966. Later that year their
Surveyor 1
made the first soft landing on the
Moon
as part of the lead-up to the Moon landings in
Project Apollo
. Hughes also built
Pioneer Venus
in 1978, which performed the first extensive radar mapping of
Venus
, and the
Galileo
probe
that flew to
Jupiter
in the 1990s.
[14]
The company built nearly 40 percent of commercial satellites in service worldwide in 2000.
[22]
Hughes helicopter business
[
edit
]
In 1947, Howard Hughes redirected Hughes Aircraft's efforts from airplanes to
helicopters
. The effort began in earnest in 1948, when helicopter manufacturer Kellett Aircraft Co. sold its latest design to Hughes for production. The
XH-17 "Sky Crane"
first flew in October 1952, but was commercially unsuccessful. In 1955, Howard Hughes split the helicopter production unit from the Hughes Aircraft Company, and reconstituted it with Hughes Tool Company, calling it
Hughes Tool Company's Aircraft Division
. The Aircraft Division had a focus on the production of light helicopters, mainly the
Hughes 269
/
300
and the
OH-6 Cayuse
/
Hughes 500
.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute sells Hughes Aircraft Company
[
edit
]
Hughes left no will and following his death in 1976 there were
numerous claims to his estate
. A Hughes executive and a Hughes lawyer claimed they had the right to set up an "executive committee" to take over the running of the HHMI and its Hughes Aircraft subsidiary. The
Attorney General of Delaware
Richard R. Wier
[23]
challenged this and filed suit in 1978.
Charles M. Oberly
continued the action when he became attorney general in 1983. Oberly stated he wished to see an independent board of trustees to ensure both that the institute fulfilled its charitable mission and that it did not continue to operate as a tax shelter.
[24]
In January 1984 Judge Grover C. Brown ruled that the Chancery Court should appoint the trustees because Hughes had not left a succession plan. Brown asked for both the executive committee and the attorney general's office to submit a list of recommendations that he could approve. Brown approved a list in April 1984.
[24]
In January 1985 the new board of trustees of the HHMI announced they would sell Hughes Aircraft either by private sale or public stock offering.
[25]
Hughes Electronics Corporation
[
edit
]
On June 5, 1985,
General Motors
was announced as the winner of a secretive five-month sealed-bid auction. Other bidders included
Ford Motor Company
and
Boeing
.
[26]
The purchase was completed on December 20, 1985, for an estimated $5.2 billion, $2.7 billion in cash and the rest in 50 million shares of GM Class H stock.
[27]
On December 31, 1985, General Motors merged Hughes Aircraft with its
Delco Electronics
unit to form Hughes Electronics Corporation, an independent subsidiary. The group then consisted of: Delco Electronics Corporation and Hughes Aircraft Company.
In August
1992
Hughes Aircraft completed its purchase of
General Dynamics
' missile businesses for $450 million.
[28]
This brought the
Tomahawk Cruise Missile
,
Advanced Cruise Missile
,
Standard missile
,
Stinger missile
,
Phalanx
Close-in weapon system
, and
Rolling Airframe Missile
into Hughes' portfolio.
In
1994
Hughes Electronics introduced
DirecTV
, the world's first high-powered
DBS
service. In
1995
Hughes Electronic's Hughes Space and Communications division became the largest supplier of commercial satellites. Also in 1995 the group purchased
Magnavox Electronic Systems
from the
Carlyle Group
. In
1996
Hughes Electronics and
PanAmSat
agree to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat with Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder.
In 1995, Hughes Aircraft sold its Technology Products Division (automated wire and die bonder) to an investor group led by
Citicorp
and incorporated the division as Palomar Technologies.
[29]
In 2008, Citicorp sold the bonder division to the current management team at Palomar Technologies.
[30]
In
1997
GM transferred Delco Electronics to its
Delphi Automotive Systems
business. Later that year the assets of Hughes Aircraft were sold to
Raytheon
for $9.5 billion.
[31]
The remaining companies remained under the Hughes Electronics name and within GM.
In 2000, the Boeing Company purchased three units within Hughes Electronics Corp.: Hughes Space and Communications Co.,
Hughes Electron Dynamics
, and
Spectrolab Inc.
, in addition to Hughes Electronics' interest in HRL, the company's primary research laboratory. The four joined Boeing Satellite Systems, a company subsidiary, later becoming the Satellite Development Center, part of Boeing Integrated Defense Systems.
[32]
In 2003 the remaining parts of Hughes Electronics (DirecTV, DirecTV Latin America, PanAmSat, Hughes Network Systems) were purchased by
News Corporation
from GM and renamed
The DirecTV Group
.
Corporate legacy
[
edit
]
The wide range of science and technology developed by Hughes Aircraft never included medical applications because the company was owned by the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI). This restriction was imposed to avoid even the appearance of a
conflict of interest
.
[33]
The money provided to HHMI by Hughes Aircraft led to major improvements in genetics and cancer research.
The city of
Fullerton, California
, named Hughes Drive after the site that the company formerly occupied before 1997. After Hughes closed, the city developed Amerige Heights, a residential community.
Timeline
[
edit
]
- 1932
: Howard Hughes formed Hughes Aircraft Company as a division of Hughes Tool Company.
- 1948
: Hughes formed the
Aerospace Group
within the company, divided into:
- Hughes Space and Communications Group
- Hughes Space Systems Division
- 1951
: Hughes Aircraft opened missile plant in Tucson, Arizona.
- 1953
: The
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
(HHMI) was formed, and Hughes Aircraft reformed as a subsidiary of the foundation. The
Internal Revenue Service
unsuccessfully challenged its "charitable" status which made it tax-exempt.
- 1955
: Hughes formed its helicopter division,
Aircraft Division
.
- 1960: The first
laser
was produced at
Hughes Research Laboratories
, by
Theodore Maiman
.
- 1961
:
Hughes Research Laboratories
completed their move to Malibu, California.
- 1972: Hughes sold the tool division of Hughes Tool Company. His remaining interests were transferred to the newly formed holding company, the
Summa Corporation
. This included Toolco Aircraft and Hughes' property and other businesses.
- 1976
: Toolco Aircraft became
Hughes Helicopters
.
- 1976: Howard Hughes died at the age of 70, leaving no will.
- 1984
: The Summa Corporation sold Hughes Helicopters to
McDonnell Douglas
for $500 million; it was soon renamed
McDonnell Douglas Helicopters
.
- 1984: The
Delaware Court of Chancery
appointed eight trustees to the Howard Hughes Medical Institute; they decided to sell Hughes Aircraft.
- 1985
: The HHMI sold Hughes Aircraft to
General Motors
for $5.2 billion. This was merged with GM's
Delco Electronics
to form
Hughes Electronics Corporation
. This group then consisted of:
- Delco Electronics Corporation
- Hughes Aircraft Company
- 1987
: Hughes Aircraft Company acquired M/A-COM Telecommunications, to form
Hughes Network Systems
.
- 1994
: Hughes Electronics introduced
DirecTV
.
- 1995
: Hughes Space and Communications Company became the world's biggest supplier of commercial satellites.
- 1995: Hughes Electronics acquired
Magnavox Electronic Systems
from the
Carlyle Group
.
- 1995: Hughes Aircraft acquired CAE-Link; CAE-Link was part of the original company founded by
Edwin Link
, inventor of the flight simulator.
- 1996: Hughes Electronics and
PanAmSat
agreed to merge their fixed satellite services into a new publicly held company, also called PanAmSat with Hughes Electronics as majority shareholder.
- 1997
: GM transferred Delco Electronics from Hughes Electronics to its
Delphi Automotive Systems
. Delphi became independent in 1999.
- 1997: The aerospace and defense operations of Hughes Electronics (Hughes Aircraft) merged with
Raytheon
; Raytheon also acquired one half of the
Hughes Research Laboratories
.
- 2000
: Hughes Space and Communications Company remained independent until 2000, when it was purchased by
Boeing
and became
Boeing Satellite Development Center
. Boeing purchased one third of the
HRL Laboratories, LLC
which was then co-owned by Boeing, GM and Raytheon.
- 2003: The remaining parts of Hughes Electronics: DirecTV, DirecTV Latin America, PanAmSat and
Hughes Network Systems
were purchased by
NewsCorp
and renamed
The DirecTV Group
.
- 2003: Newscorp sold PanAmSat to
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
(KKR) in August 2004.
- 2004
: Director
Martin Scorsese
used the Hughes Aircraft stage in Playa Vista to film the motion-capture sequences in the film
The Aviator
.
- 2004:
SkyTerra
Communications, Inc. completed its purchase of 100% controlling interest in Hughes Network Systems from the DirecTV Group in January 2006.
Technologies Systems and Products
[
edit
]
Air Defense and Air Traffic Control Systems
[
edit
]
Hughes Research Laboratories
[
edit
]
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
[
edit
]
Aircraft
[
edit
]
Missiles
[
edit
]
Spacecraft
[
edit
]
Torpedo
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Hughes Aircraft"
.
www.centennialofflight.net
.
Archived
from the original on 7 June 2017
. Retrieved
29 April
2018
.
- ^
Parker, Dana T.
Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II
, pp. 49?58, Cypress, CA, 2013.
- ^
"Hughes Electronics Corporation - American corporation"
.
britannica.com
.
Archived
from the original on 9 May 2015
. Retrieved
29 April
2018
.
- ^
Parker, Dana T.
Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II
, p. 49, Cypress, CA, 2013.
- ^
"American airplanes: Ha - Hu"
.
aerofiles.com
. Archived from
the original
on 7 August 2011
. Retrieved
29 April
2018
.
- ^
a
b
Judy, Rumerman.
"The Hughes Companies"
. U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission.
Archived
from the original on 2014-02-02
. Retrieved
2006-12-06
.
- ^
Parker, Dana T.
Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,
pp. 49-58, Cypress, CA, 2013.
- ^
a
b
c
Dietrich, Noah; Thomas, Bob (1972).
Howard, The Amazing Mr. Hughes
. Greenwich: Fawcett Publications, Inc. pp. 163?164.
- ^
"ACME"
.
Archived
from the original on 2016-09-01
. Retrieved
2016-08-31
.
TRW Canoga Park
- ^
Leighton, David (2015-05-05).
"Street Smarts: Tucson's biggest manufacturing plant was almost built in Phoenix"
.
Arizona Daily Star
. pp. A2, A5.
Archived
from the original on 2016-03-05
. Retrieved
2015-05-05
.
- ^
Winslow, Ron (2006-09-22).
"Virginia lab putting big money into pure research"
.
The Wall Street Journal
. Associated Press Financial Wire.
Archived
from the original on 2014-05-02
. Retrieved
2014-04-30
.
- ^
"The Electronic Properties Information Center (EPIC)"
.
dtic.mil
. Retrieved
29 April
2018
.
[
dead link
]
- ^
TECHNICAL REPORT CMU/SEI-98-TR-006 ESC-TR-98-006 Hughes Aircraft’s Widespread Deployment of a Continuously Improving Software Process
"Continuously Improving Software Process"
(PDF)
.
Archived
(PDF)
from the original on 2016-03-04
. Retrieved
2016-01-05
.
- ^
Boeing: Integrated Defense Systems ? Space and Intelligence Systems ? About Space and Intelligence Systems
Archived
2008-04-16 at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Attorney Richard R Wier Jr | Lawyer in Wilmington DE"
.
www.lawyercentral.com
. Archived from
the original
on 2013-07-03.
- ^
a
b
Griffith, Ted (2005-02-12). "Delaware shaped legacy of 'Aviator'; Court helped Howard Hughes tax shelter become leading charity".
The News Journal
. p. 1.
- ^
Gillot, Roger (1985-01-10). "Medical Institute to Sell Hughes Aircraft". The Associated Press.
- ^
Potts, Mark (1985-06-06). "GM to Buy Hughes Aircraft; Offer Provides Windfall for Medical Institute".
Washington Post
.
- ^
"G.M. Purchase Of Hughes"
.
The New York Times
. Reuters. 1985-12-23.
Archived
from the original on 2014-05-02
. Retrieved
2014-04-30
.
- ^
"Missile completion".
Flight International
. 1992-09-02.
- ^
"Hughes-Palomar History"
.
- ^
"Palomar Technologies Achieves Management Buy-out"
.
photonics.com
.
Archived
from the original on 29 April 2018
. Retrieved
29 April
2018
.
- ^
Chuter, Andy (1998-01-07).
"Raytheon Completes Hughes Merger"
.
Flight International
. p. 15.
Archived
from the original on 2014-05-02
. Retrieved
2014-04-30
.
- ^
"Boeing: History -- Higher, Faster, Farther - Hughes Companies ... Joining the Boeing Family"
. Archived from
the original
on 2010-10-28
. Retrieved
2010-06-02
.
Hughes Companies... Joining the Boeing Family
- ^
HughesNews
(the company's weekly newspaper)
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Bartlett, Donald L.; Steele, James B. (1979).
Howard Hughes: his life and madness
. New York City: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.
ISBN
0-393-32602-0
.
- Francillon, Rene J. (1990).
McDonnell Douglas Aircraft since 1920
. Vol. II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press.
ISBN
1-55750-550-0
.
- Gart, Jason H. "Electronics and Aerospace Industry in Cold War Arizona, 1945?1968: Motorola, Hughes Aircraft, Goodyear Aircraft". Ph.D. diss., Arizona State University, 2006.
- Marrett, George J.
Howard Hughes: Aviator
, Naval Institute Press, 2004.
- Marrett, George J.
Testing Death: Hughes Aircraft Test Pilots and Cold War Weaponry
, Praeger Publishing, 2006.
- Parker, Dana T.
Building Victory: Aircraft Manufacturing in the Los Angeles Area in World War II,
Cypress, CA.
ISBN
978-0-9897906-0-4
.
- D. Kenneth Richardson (2011).
Hughes After Howard: The Story of Hughes Aircraft Company
. Sea Hill Press.
ISBN
978-0-9708050-8-9
.
- Walter Sobkiw (2011).
Systems Practices as Common Sense
. CassBeth.
ISBN
978-0-9832530-8-2
.
External links
[
edit
]
- Hughes aircraft history on CentennialofFlight.net
- "Patents owned by Hughes Aircraft"
.
US Patent & Trademark Office
. Archived from
the original
on June 18, 2013
. Retrieved
December 5,
2005
.
- Leighton, David (May 4, 2015).
"Street Smarts: Tucson's biggest manufacturing plant was almost built in Phoenix"
.
Arizona Daily Star
.
- Historic American Engineering Record
(HAER) No. CA-174, "
Hughes Aircraft Company, 6775 Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles, Los Angeles County, CA
", 10 photos, 100 data pages, 1 photo caption page
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Aviation
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Films directed
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Films produced
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Popular culture
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Related
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Fixed-wing aircraft
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Experimental helicopters
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Civil helicopters
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Military helicopters
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Communications satellites
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Spacecraft
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Avionics /Fire control
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Missiles
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