Draft:Electrospace Systems

Founding

Electrospace Systems was founded in 1970 in Richardson, Texas, by James R. Lightner, Dr. Robert L. Carrel, Milton W. Holcombe, and Richard Fenwick, all of whom had previously worked at Collins Radio Company's Dallas operations.^[4] Prior to Collins, several of the founders had worked at Electronic Communications, Inc. (ECI), which held systems integration contracts for the EC-135 airborne command post program and other nuclear command and control platforms.

The company was established specifically to pursue contracts in three areas: the Airborne Command Post (communications for SAC's airborne nuclear command infrastructure), TACAMO (the Navy's airborne VLF relay to ballistic missile submarines), and specialized antenna products.^[5]

ESI secured its first contract—a consulting study for the FLR-9 antenna system—in February 1970, before all four founders had formally left Collins Radio. Within three months, the U.S. Navy awarded ESI a $55,000 contract to support the TACAMO program, bypassing normal procurement channels to establish a relationship with the new company.^[5]

Growth and NYSE listing

Through the 1970s and early 1980s, ESI grew steadily on the strength of contracts across airborne command post communications, secure switching systems, antenna products, and satellite communications. By 1984, the company had approximately 1,400 employees—including about 420 engineers and technical personnel—and annual revenues of $79.5 million with net income of $7.9 million.^[4] The company served approximately 150 government customers including all branches of the United States Armed Forces, the National Security Agency (NSA), NASA, the Defense Communications Agency (DCA), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the Coast Guard.^[4]

ESI was listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1984.^[4] At least 14 employees and early investors, not including the founders, became millionaires through their ESI stock holdings.^[4]

Chrysler acquisition

In 1987, Chrysler Corporation acquired Electrospace Systems for approximately $370 million as part of a diversification into defense technology.^[6] Chrysler created Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems (CTAS), a Waco, Texas-based aircraft modification subsidiary, from an ESI division in 1989.^[3] Milton W. Holcombe, a co-founder and vice president of ESI, was named president of the new military aircraft company.^[2]

CTAS and ESI operated as separate but related units under Chrysler Technologies, with ESI handling electronics design and manufacturing from Richardson and CTAS performing aircraft modification at the Waco facility. Combined, the two units employed approximately 2,800 people and had annual sales approaching $500 million by 1995.^[3]

Raytheon acquisition and dissolution

In 1996, Raytheon purchased Chrysler's defense electronics and aircraft modification businesses for $475 million. ESI and CTAS were merged into Raytheon E-Systems (which Raytheon had acquired for $2.3 billion in 1995).^[3] In 2002, Raytheon sold the Waco aircraft modification facility to L-3 Communications.The facility continues to operate as L3Harris Technologies Integrated Aerospace Systems, having modified more than 95 types of aircraft over more than 35 years of continuous operation.^[7]

Defense Red Switch Network

ESI developed and manufactured the secure telephone switching systems and telephone instruments for the Defense Red Switch Network (DRSN), the dedicated telephone network providing Top Secret SCI-level secure voice communications to the U.S. nuclear command and control structure. The switching technology originated from secure airborne voice switching equipment ESI had developed for the E-4B Nightwatch and EC-135 airborne command post aircraft.^[5]

ESI delivered the first Secure Digital Switch (SDS-1) to CENTCOM at MacDill Air Force Base in 1983, going from initial development to a working system in under twelve months. The Red Switch subsequently deployed to military command centers worldwide, including Scott AFB, Ramstein, Hickam, Osan, and dozens of other installations.^[5]

ESI manufactured the MLP-1, MLP-1A, and MLP-2 Multi-Line Phone series, as well as the Integrated Services Telephone (IST), for the DRSN. These instruments provided both secure and non-secure calling capability through a single device with multilevel precedence and preemption (MLPP) functionality. ESI-designed phones were installed in the Oval Office, the Pentagon, the National Security Agency, the State Department, and other senior government offices from the early 1980s through the 2000s.^[8]

When the government opened the Red Switch to competitive bidding, ESI was the sole source meeting the required cross-talk specifications and security requirements. A competing contract awarded to GTE was ultimately terminated after GTE failed to deliver a working system.^[5]

ESI also won a $17.4 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for worldwide on-site maintenance of the Command and Control Switching System (CCSS), which provided secure telephone communications for the Department of Defense.^[9]

Airborne command post communications

ESI's airborne division performed communications integration, modification, and maintenance on the principal aircraft of the U.S. airborne nuclear command and control network:

• EC-135 "Looking Glass": ESI won the Pacer Link contract in 1984 to modify all 39 EC-135 Airborne Command Post aircraft, gutting and refitting them with updated C³ equipment. Valued at approximately $200 million over seven years (1984–1991), it was the largest contract in ESI's history.^[5] ESI also held earlier contracts for EC-135J switching consoles (Call Alarm), hardware upgrades (Echo Fox), and complete aircraft documentation (Tinker AFB contract covering EC-135 J, H, and P variants).

• E-4B Nightwatch: Beginning in 1974–75, ESI provided VLF receive antennas, pre-amplifiers, and related systems for the E-4B, the presidential airborne command post designed for use in nuclear war. In 1985, ESI won the contract to perform C³ modifications on all four E-4Bs.^[5] ESI was also awarded the contract to restore a Nightwatch aircraft following a ground fire.

• TACAMO: ESI automated the VLF trailing wire antenna system on TACAMO aircraft (initially the C-130, previously the C-124), which relayed communications to ballistic missile submarines carrying the Polaris and Poseidon missiles. TACAMO was an ESI mainstay program for over a decade, with nearly all of the company's initial workforce assigned to the program in its early years.^[5]

• AFSATCOM: Under the Air Force Satellite Communication program, ESI performed aircraft modifications to all Airborne Command Post aircraft, installing satellite communication antennas and interior consoles and switching hardware. The company nearly doubled in size as a result of this contract.^[5]

• E-3B/C AWACS: Following the Pacer Link and E-4B contracts, ESI won C³ modification contracts for the E-3B/C Airborne Warning and Control System fleet.

Washington–Moscow Hotline

ESI manufactured the signaling protocol converters that enabled the Washington–Moscow hotline telephone link to function. When ITT installed the telephone system in the Soviet Union but encountered incompatible CCITT signaling standards between the American and Soviet telephone networks, ESI developed and supplied the signal conversion equipment. ESI manufactured 10–12 Signal Converters that were deployed to locations including the USSR, Poland, Greece, China, Colombia, and Saipan.^[5]

Submarine communications

In addition to the TACAMO airborne relay program, ESI developed the Silent Tuner, a spread spectrum antenna tuning system that allowed nuclear submarines to tune their HF communications antennas without emitting any recognizable signal. The Silent Tuner was deployed on all U.S. nuclear submarines.^[5]

ESI also won a contract in approximately 1973 for the Integrated Radio Room for the Trident submarine, involving VLF, LF, and HF antenna interface controllers and RF switches.^[5]

Antenna systems

ESI designed and manufactured a range of antenna and RF switching products:

• FLR-9: Computer-controlled RF switching systems for the FLR-9 Wullenweber circular antenna arrays (nicknamed "elephant cages"), used for radio direction finding. Installations included sites in Augsburg, Germany and Udorn, Thailand.

• WSC-6: A three-axis satellite communication antenna system used extensively by the United States Navy. The program ran from approximately 1983 through at least 1997. Several systems were also sold to the Royal Netherlands Navy.

• Log periodic antennas: Developed for the United States Army at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.

• Page antenna: A series of direction-finding antenna towers installed on a rubble mound in Berlin for surveillance of East Germany, under subcontract to Harris Corporation.

Aircraft modification

ESI established an aircraft modification facility at the former James Connally Air Force Base in Waco, Texas, in 1984, initially to support the E-4B AFSATCOM program.^[2] The first hangar (Building 7400) was large enough to house a KC-135 and was the largest tilt-up-wall structure built in McLennan County at that time.^[5]

Under Chrysler Technologies Airborne Systems (CTAS), the Waco facility performed aircraft modifications for military, commercial, and VIP/Heads-of-State customers, including modifications to the Japanese Prime Minister's Boeing 747. Other programs at the facility included the ARIA (Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft), the FEWSG (Fleet Electronic Warfare Support Group) conversion of Douglas DC-8s into Navy EC-24 electronic warfare platforms, the C-141 fleet navigation system installations, the KC-135 fleet, and the NASA SOFIA infrared telescope aircraft.^[5]

Other products

• CSCE "Shelter Program": A $101 million U.S. Army contract (1986) for mobile C³ systems mounted on HMMWVs.^[5]
• ARIA: Upgrades to the EC-135 Advanced Range Instrumentation Aircraft, used to track Department of Defense and NASA targets including missiles and orbiting spacecraft. This work led to the Cruise Missile Command and Control Aircraft (CMCCA) contract.^[5]
• Engineering Services Circuits (ESC): Satellite ground station maintenance switching equipment sold worldwide, acquired through ESI's purchase of Omega-t Systems.
• High Seas: Ship-to-shore telephone switching systems developed for AT&T, supporting early cruise industry communications.
• KG-84 interface equipment: Trunk and phone interface units connecting KG-84 NSA encryption devices to ESI switching systems, enabling encrypted communications over the DRSN and other secure networks.