DRS Technologies
Encyclopedia
DRS Technologies, Inc. (DRS) is a US-based defense contractor
Defense contractor
A defense contractor is a business organization or individual that provides products or services to a military department of a government. Products typically include military aircraft, ships, vehicles, weaponry, and electronic systems...

. Previously traded on the NYSE, the company was purchased by the Italian firm Finmeccanica
Finmeccanica
Finmeccanica S.p.A. is an Italian conglomerate. Finmeccanica is the second largest industrial group and the largest of the hi-tech industrial groups based in Italy. It works in the fields of defence, aerospace, security, automation, transport and energy...

 in October 2008.

History

Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems, Inc (DRS) was founded in 1968 by Leonard Newman (whose son, Mark Newman, is the current CEO) and David Gross, two engineers working for Loral Corporation
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....

. 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 $500M 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 $391M sales level, and in 2004 surpassed the $1B sales mark.

DRS was acquired by the Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica S.p.A.
Finmeccanica
Finmeccanica S.p.A. is an Italian conglomerate. Finmeccanica is the second largest industrial group and the largest of the hi-tech industrial groups based in Italy. It works in the fields of defence, aerospace, security, automation, transport and energy...

in 2008.

External links

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