General Atomics
| General Atomics | |
|---|---|
| legal form | |
| founding | 1955 |
| Seat |
San Diego , California ,
|
| management | James Neal Blue |
| Number of employees | 8,000 |
| Website | www.ga.com |
General Atomics ( GA ) is a US high-tech company with activities primarily in the fields of nuclear energy and armaments . The company's headquarters are in San Diego . The company currently (2016) has around 8,000 employees.
There are currently (2016) branches in Berlin , Dresden , Adelaide , Washington, DC , Denver , Los Alamos , Oklahoma City , Tupelo , Ogden .
history
The company was founded on July 18, 1955 as the nuclear power division of General Dynamics . The first president and initiator of the foundation was Frederic de Hoffmann . In 1967 they were sold to Gulf Oil and renamed "Gulf General Atomic". From 1973 to 1982 Shell held a stake in the company that was called the General Atomic Company during this time. From 1982 they were called "GA Technologies Inc." In 1984 the parent company Gulf was taken over by Chevron . In 1986 the brothers Linden Blue (* 1936) and James Neal Blue (* 1935) from Denver took over the company, which from then on was called General Atomics, for 60 million US dollars . James Neal Blue is chairman and CEO of GA.
Because the company is privately owned, it doesn't and does not need to publish sales figures. But the Predator drones make up a large part of sales . In 2005, the US Department of Defense announced that it would invest approximately $ 5.7 billion in 144 Predators over five years. In the same year, the Predator was given Initial Operating Capability by the US Air Force. James Neal Blue stated that the Predator drone accounted for around a third of sales in 2005.
Since the company is heavily dependent on contracts from the Department of Defense, it invests heavily in lobbying in Washington, DC In 2006 it came under fire for having a disproportionately large stake in travel sponsorship by US Congressmen (around 660,000 from 2000 to mid-2005 US dollars, compared to Boeing with officially 13,000 US dollars).
The company started with nuclear energy projects and developed the TRIGA nuclear reactor in the 1950s . At that time they were also responsible for Project Orion . From 1959 they developed special graphite high-temperature reactors (HTGR), but they could not prevail against the competition from light water reactors. In 2007 they develop helium-cooled nuclear reactors (Gas Turbine Modular Helium Reactor, GT-MHR). They also run one of the largest nuclear fusion energy programs in the nuclear industry (research on tokamaks since the 1960s, in the 2000s in the DIII-D National Fusion Facility) and deal with radioactive waste management. In 2010 they presented the Energy Multiplier Module (EM2), a smaller version of the GT-MHR that is supposed to produce energy from nuclear waste.
Products
The General Atomics Aeronautical Systems division manufactures the “Predator” drone and develops the electromagnetic aircraft carrier catapult EMALS ( Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System ), which is intended to replace the steam-powered catapults on aircraft carriers and has already been successfully tested. The Advanced Arresting Gear System (AAG) is intended to modernize the system of brake cables for aircraft carriers. The division also developed a railgun (speed camera) for air and missile defense, magnetic levitation trains (Maglevs, Magnetically levitated systems and linear drives), radar systems (Lynx Synthetic Aperture Radar) and mining technology, e.g. B. Electric motors for dump trucks in mining.
organization structure
- Electromagnetic Systems Group (GA-EMS)
- Energy Group
- Controlled Fusion
- Fission (nuclear reactors from Triga to Next Generation Advanced Reactors). TRIGA International is a joint venture with Areva- owned CERCA.
- Advanced Computing (including the San Diego Supercomputer Center)
Associated companies:
- General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI)
- Aircraft Systems Group
- Reconnaissance Systems Group
- General Atomics Systems Integration (GA-SI), service provider for drones and maintenance of aging aircraft stocks, especially for the US armed forces
- ConverDyn, for the production of uranium hexafluoride (UHF).
- Cotter Corporation, a mining company founded in 1956 (originally mining uranium in New Mexico), acquired in 2000
- Heathgate Resources Pty, Ltd., founded in 1990, operates the Beverley uranium mine in Australia
- Nuclear Fuels Corporation (NFC), founded in 1991.
- Rio Grande Resources Corporation, manages the mining activities (uranium and others) of GA, which it acquired from Chevron Resources in 1991.
- Spezialtechnik Dresden GmbH (STD), e.g. B. Recultivation of old brown coal and uranium ore mining areas, prefabricated concrete parts, ammunition reprocessing.