Honeywell Aerospace

Honeywell Aerospace is the largest manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, as well as a producer of auxiliary power units (APUs) and other aviation products. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, it is a division of the Honeywell International conglomerate. It generates approximately $10 billion in annual revenue from a 50/50 mix of commercial and defense contracts.

The company experienced a boom during World War II, when it equipped bomber planes with avionics and invented the auto-pilot. After the war it transitioned to a heavier focus on peacetime applications. Today Honeywell produces space equipment, turbine engines, auxiliary power units, brakes, wheels, synthetic vision, runway safety systems and other avionics.

A Honeywell APU was used in the notable emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 and a Honeywell blackbox survived under sea for years against its specified limits to reveal the details of the crash of Air France Flight 447. The company was also involved in the making of 2001: A Space Odyssey and in 90 percent of U.S. space missions. It's involved in the U.S. NextGen program and Europe's SESAR program for advancing avionics.

President Barack Obama awarded a Honeywell employee the National Medal of Technology for his contributions to air flight safety technology. The company owns dozens of patents related to NextGen technology, aircraft windshields, turbochargers and more. It was also involved in an 11 year long patent dispute regarding ring laser gyroscope technology.