Rockwell Collins, Inc. was a multinational corporation headquartered in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, providing avionics and information technology systems and services to government agencies and aircraft manufacturers. It was formed when the Collins Radio Company, facing financial difficulties, was purchased by Rockwell International in 1973. In 2001, the avionics division of Rockwell International was spun off to form the current Rockwell Collins, Inc., retaining its name. It was acquired by United Technologies Corporation on November 27, 2018, and since then operates as part of Collins Aerospace, a subsidiary of the RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies).
History Arthur A. Collins founded Collins Radio Company in 1933 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. It designed and produced both shortwave radio equipment and equipment for the AM radio broadcast industry. Collins supplied the military, the scientific community, and the larger AM radio stations with equipment. Collins provided the equipment to establish a communications link with the South Pole expedition of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd in 1933. In 1936, Collins had begun production of the 12H audio console, 12X portable field announcers box, and the 300E and 300F broadcast transmitters. Throughout World War II, the 212A1 and 212B1 replaced the 12H design. Collins became the principal supplier of radio and navigation equipment used in the military. In the postwar years, the Collins Radio Company expanded its work in the communications field, while broadening its technology into flight-control instruments, radio-communication devices, and satellite voice transmissions. Collins Radio Company provided communications for the United States' role in the Space Race, including equipment for astronauts to communicate with earth stations and equipment to track and communicate with spacecraft. Collins communications equipment was used for Projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. In 1973, the U.S. Skylab program used Collins equipment to provide communication from the astronauts to Earth.
Rockwell Collins
After facing financial difficulties, the Collins Radio Company was purchased by Rockwell International in 1973. In 2001, the avionics division of Rockwell International was spun off to form Rockwell Collins, Inc, retaining its name. Rockwell Collins was highly concentrated in the defense and commercial avionics markets, and no longer marketed receivers to the public. On April 28, 2000, Rockwell International Corp and its Rockwell Collins unit agreed to acquire Sony Corp's Sony Trans Com (Irvine, California), a manufacturer of inflight entertainment systems, for undisclosed terms. Sony had purchased the business from Sundstrand Corporation in 1989. On December 20, 2000, Rockwell Collins expanded its services to commercial and executive aviation in Mercosur countries. The company had acquired several companies, including Hughes-Avicom's in-flight entertainment business (1998), Sony Trans Com (2000), Intertrade Ltd., Flight Dynamics, K Systems, Inc. (Kaiser companies), Communication Solutions, Inc., Airshow, Inc. (2002), NLX (Simulation Business) in 2003, portions of Evans & Sutherland, TELDIX GmbH, IP Unwired, Anzus Inc. in 2006, Information Technology and Applications Corp in 2007, Athena Technologies, Datapath Inc. (divested in 2014), SEOS Displays Ltd., Air Routing International in 2010, Computing Technologies for Aviation (CTA) in 2011, ARINC in 2014, and BE Aerospace in 2017. The company was among the major suppliers of in-flight entertainment (IFE). Rockwell Collins' key competitors in this industry included Panasonic Avionics Corporation, Thales Group, and JetBlue's IFE subsidiary LiveTV, which was later purchased by Thales in 2014 for $400 million. In 2010, the company employed over 20,000 people and had an annual turnover of US$4.665 billion. Its nonexecutive chairman was Anthony Carbone following the retirement of Clayton M. Jones. In September 2012, Kelly Ortberg was appointed as president of the company. In August 2013, Kelly Ortberg was appointed CEO of Rockwell Collins.
Acquisition by United Technologies On September 4, 2017, United Technologies of Farmington, Connecticut, agreed to acquire the company for $30 billion. The transaction closed on November 26, 2018.
Past products
Broadcast transmitters Starting in the mid-1930s, the Collins Radio Company constructed and sold transmitters and audio mixing consoles to the broadcast industry. In 1939, the model 12 Speech Input Console, in addition to the 26C limiter amplifier, was licensed to Canadian Marconi Co. for both sales in Canada and His Majesty's Service for the war effort. Collins' success in constructing broadcast transmitters continued to grow, selling well over a thousand up to the start of World War II. During World War II, Collins' expertise grew in high-power transmitters, producing designs that ran well over 15 kilowatts (kW) of RF power on a continuous basis. After the war, some AM transmitters were produced, called the 300G, and remain the finest in low-power AM transmitters (300W) ever produced. Collins remained an important manufacturer of AM and FM broadcast radio transmitters for the commercial market surviving the drastic cost-cutting market of the 1960s and 1970s. The transmitter line was later sold to Continental Electronics, which continued to produce a number of Collins designs under its own nameplate before phasing them out in the 1980s.
Shortwave transmitters Collins produced several shortwave transmitters to the commercial market. A "30" Series production catered to the growing need of state highway patrol agencies and Department of Commerce aviation needs. During World War II, Collins produced high-power transmitters for aircraft, notably the ART-13 equipped with automatic tuning circuits, which represented an important enhancement for airborne radio communications. After World War II, Collins supported both broadcast and the growing postwar amateur radio market. The United States Coast Guard Cutter USCGC Courier was employed as seagoing relay station for Voice of America programming using two Collins 207B-1 transmitters. Amateur radio transmitters included the 32V-1, -2, and -3, the KWS-1, and the rack-mounted KW-1.
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