America emerged as a global technological powerhouse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. American innovation has since transformed defense, aviation, space exploration and national security. Throughout its history, L3Harris and its heritage companies helped pioneer many of the capabilities that strengthened U.S. leadership and continue to support warfighters today.
This timeline highlights key moments in that legacy of invention, adaptation and mission-driven innovation:
Ed Link invents the first pilot trainer in 1929 in the company’s Binghamton, New York, location. During WWII, the technology was used to train 500,000 airmen.
The first aerial reconnaissance programs modifying RB-29 and RB-50 aircraft begin in the company’s Greenville, Texas, location. Decades of similar, increasingly complex projects turn the company into the world's leading signals intelligence provider. Today, L3Harris supports fleets around the world, including RC-135 aircraft for the U.S. Air Force and the U.K. Royal Air Force.
The company's first large 60-foot antenna is capable of tracking fast-moving missiles and spacecraft, and leads to present-day space antennas.
The company’s technology drives the first Doppler Weather Radar, which becomes an essential weather forecasting tool.
The first Traveling Wave Tube, used extensively in early night vision goggles and other devices, ships for use by warfighters.
The U.S. Navy implements a company-developed system that uses ultra-thin glass fiber to send 20 million bits of data per second. Today, L3Harris fiber-optic tethers provide unjammable communications for drones and subsea platforms, solving the critical vulnerability of radio frequency (RF) systems that adversaries routinely jam in contested environments.
NASA’s Viking 1 mission to Mars launches aboard a Titan IIIE-Centaur rocket whose three stages were powered by the company’s engines. The company also provided engines that were used to ease the Viking lander to the Martian surface in 1976. The mission provided the first photo ever taken on the surface of Mars.
The company makes television history in North Carolina when a team of engineers and equipment experts spends 34 days installing a brand new HD transmitter that enables a small group of people from the media and TV industry to watch the first public demonstration of HD technology.
The company introduces the first-generation Holographic Weapon Sight (HWS) under the trade name Bushnell-HoloSight. The HWS is designed to increase target accuracy and speed of target acquisition in sport shooting and hunting applications. It wins the Optic of the Year Award from the Shooting Industry Academy of Excellence.
The company fields the first Network-Centric Collaborative Targeting System for a U.S. Air Force program, providing networking of ISR data from multiple platforms to more quickly and accurately identify and locate targets. It is the first time multiple sensors on multiple platforms are successfully networked in real time, changing the way ISR systems can be used to identify and engage targets.
In response to the evolving needs of special operations forces during the War on Terror, L3Harris fields the first fused night vision googles, combining low-light image intensification with long-wave infrared imaging to provide greater effectiveness across varying terrain and operational environments.
The company’s MX-15HD becomes the first electro-optical/infrared sensor to incorporate high-definition video. The system is fielded on thousands of fixed-wing, rotary wing, UAV and aerostat platforms, as well as numerous surface vehicles and marine-based platforms.
The company’s Highband Networking Radio (HNR) is the first product to provide wireless, long-range, high-bandwidth, on-the-move communications to the military.
The company’s Falcon III AN/PRC-152A is the first NSA Type-1 certified handheld radio to put the power of wideband networking in the hands of the warfighter.
L3Harris relay communications architecture plays a role in the first powered, controlled flight on another planet. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter relied on the company’s communications technology to return flight data to Earth during its historic operations on Mars. The company also provided a number of motors, engines and tanks to support the Atlas V rocket that launched the Perseverance rover that held the Ingenuity helicopter, and provided thrusters to help the spacecraft safely land on Mars.
L3Harris becomes the first company to accomplish a fully autonomous launch and recovery of an autonomous underwater vehicle from an underway U.S. Navy submarine, leveraging its proven Iver4 AUV technology.
The U.S. Marine Corps successfully demonstrates an L3Harris solution for long-range precision fires from an AH-1Z helicopter at Yuma Proving Grounds, Arizona. The demo marked the first time a Marine Corps rotary-wing platform employed a weapon system using a tablet-controlled device.
L3Harris announces a first-of-its-kind partnership with the U.S. Department of War to significantly increase capacity to build solid rocket motors that power vital U.S. and allied missiles.
The story of American innovation is deeply interwoven with L3Harris’ past, present and future. Visit our America250 page to learn more about how our people and technologies helped to usher in new eras in aerospace and defense – and how we’re working to define what’s next.
The appearance of U.S. Department of War visual information does not imply or constitute DOW endorsement.