Leonardo DRS, formerly DRS Technologies, Inc., is a US-based
defense contractor
The arms industry, also known as the arms trade, is a global industry which manufactures and sells weapons and military technology. It consists of a commercial industry involved in the research and development, engineering, production, and se ...
. Previously traded on the
NYSE
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its liste ...
, the company was purchased by the Italian firm Finmeccanica (now
Leonardo S.p.A.) in October 2008.
History
Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems, Inc (DRS) was founded in 1968 by Leonard Newman (whose son, Mark Newman, was the CEO until January 2012) and David Gross, two engineers working for
Loral Corporation
Loral Corporation was a defense contractor founded in 1948 in New York by William Lorenz and Leon Alpert as Loral Electronics Corporation. The company's name was taken from the first letters of each founder's surname.
History
Loral Corporation or ...
. The two were working on signal processing techniques for anti-submarine warfare. When Loral chose to pursue other technology, Newman and Gross founded DRS to continue their research, which ultimately led to development of the AN/SQR-17 passive submarine detection system, a product still used today.
DRS went public in 1981 and acquired its first company in 1984. By 1994, DRS set a goal to become a mid-tier defense contractor, defined by $500 million in sales – notwithstanding that DRS at the time had only $58M in sales. Six years later, at the turn of the century, DRS reached the $391 million sales level, and in 2004 surpassed the $1 billion sales mark.
DRS was acquired by the Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica S.p.A. (now
Leonardo S.p.A.) in 2008. In 2012, former
United States Deputy Secretary of Defense
The deputy secretary of defense (acronym: DepSecDef) is a statutory office () and the second-highest-ranking official in the Department of Defense of the United States of America.
The deputy secretary is the principal civilian deputy to the sec ...
,
William J. Lynn III was appointed CEO of Finmeccanica North America DRS, replacing Mark Newman, who held the position since 1994.
In June of 2022, Israel-based
RADA Electronic Industries and Leonardo DRS announced an
all-stock merger.
Products
Advanced Trainer
*
Leonardo DRS T-100 Integrated Training System
The Aermacchi M-346 Master is a family of military twin-engine transonic advanced jet trainers and light combat aircraft. Originally co-developed with Yakovlev as the Yak/AEM-130, the partnership was dissolved in 2000 and then Alenia Aermacchi ...
* M1000 Trailer, part of the
Heavy Equipment Transport System
Heavy Equipment Transporter System (HETS) is the name of a U.S. Army logistics vehicle transport system, the primary purpose of which is to transport the M1 Abrams tank. It is also used to transport, deploy, and evacuate armored personnel carriers, ...
Drone
*
DRS RQ-15 Neptune
The DRS RQ-15 Neptune is a reconnaissance UAV
An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS ...
*
DRS Sentry HP __NOTOC__
The DRS Sentry HP is a reconnaissance UAV that was developed in the United States in the late 1980s by S-TEC. The program was acquired by Meggitt
Parker Meggitt (formerly Meggitt plc) is a British international company specialising ...
See also
*
Top 100 US Federal Contractors
The Top 100 Contractors Report is a list developed annually by the U.S. General Services Administration as part of its tracking of U.S. federal government procurement, of the "Top 100" contractors in the United States.
In fiscal year 2005, the fe ...
*
War economy
A war economy or wartime economy is the set of contingencies undertaken by a modern state to mobilize its economy for war production. Philippe Le Billon describes a war economy as a "system of producing, mobilizing and allocating resources t ...
References
External links
DRS Technologies, Inc. Corporate Web SiteWashington Technology's Top 100 Federal Prime ContractorsBest for Vets 2012: Employers
{{Leonardo-Finmeccanica
Technology companies established in 1968
Defense companies of the United States
Companies based in Morris County, New Jersey
Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey
Leonardo S.p.A.
2008 mergers and acquisitions
American subsidiaries of foreign companies