L3Harris Technologies, Inc.

What does L3Harris Technologies own?

L3Harris owns defense technology businesses spanning space systems, tactical communications, ISR missionization, electronic warfare, and propulsion. Its named brands include Aerojet Rocketdyne, WESCAM sensors, Falcon tactical radios, and the VAMPIRE counter-drone system. In 2026 it reorganized into Space and Mission Systems, Communications and Spectrum Dominance, and Missile Solutions segments.

Is L3Harris publicly traded?

Yes. L3Harris trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker LHX and is a component of the S&P 500. It has been public since its 2019 formation, and both predecessor companies were long-standing public companies: Harris since the mid-20th century and L3 since its 1998 IPO.

Who founded L3Harris?

L3Harris was formed in 2019 by merger, not founded by an individual. Its predecessors were Harris Corporation, founded by brothers Alfred and Charles Harris in Niles, Ohio, in 1895, and L-3 Communications, founded by Frank Lanza and Robert LaPenta in 1997 with Lehman Brothers backing.

Where is L3Harris headquartered?

L3Harris is headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, on the state's Space Coast, the former headquarters of Harris Corporation. The company also maintains major operations in Canoga Park and Rancho Cordova, California; Huntsville, Alabama; Rochester, New York; Palm Bay, Florida; and Hamilton, Ontario.

How many brands does L3Harris own?

The company operates a handful of named product brands, most prominently Aerojet Rocketdyne and WESCAM, plus product families including Falcon radios and the VAMPIRE counter-drone system. Most of its business is organized around engineering programs and contracts rather than consumer-facing brands.

Who owns L3Harris?

L3Harris is publicly owned, with shares distributed among institutional investors, index funds, and retail shareholders. Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street are typically the largest holders. No single investor controls the company, though the Department of War took a $1 billion preferred stake in its Missile Solutions unit in 2026.

What is the Aerojet Rocketdyne split-up?

Announced with fiscal 2025 results in January 2026, L3Harris is separating Aerojet Rocketdyne's businesses. It agreed to sell 60 percent of the civil Space Propulsion and Power Systems business to AE Industrial Partners for approximately $845 million, and plans an IPO of the Missile Solutions business in 2026, with the Department of War investing $1 billion in preferred securities convertible into IPO shares at a 20 percent discount.

The Harris side of the family is the oldest. Brothers Alfred and Charles Harris founded the Harris Automatic Press Company in Niles, Ohio, in 1895, building printing presses before pivoting into broadcasting equipment and then defense electronics. Harris merged with Radiation Inc., a Melbourne, Florida electronics firm, in 1967 and relocated its headquarters to Florida's Space Coast in the late 1970s, where it grew into a major maker of military radios and communications systems.

The L3 side is younger and built entirely by acquisition. Investment banker Frank Lanza and financier Robert LaPenta founded L-3 Communications in 1997, backed by Lehman Brothers, with the initials of its founders and bank forming the name. The venture began by acquiring roughly ten electronics and defense businesses that Lockheed Martin was divesting after its Loral acquisition, then spent two decades rolling up more than 100 niche defense technology firms, including WESCAM in 2002, Titan Group in 2005, and BAE Systems' intelligence businesses.

In October 2018, L3 Technologies and Harris Corporation announced a merger of equals, completed on June 29, 2019. The combination, valued at approximately $33.5 billion, created the sixth-largest U.S. defense contractor and took the name L3Harris Technologies, headquartered at Harris's Melbourne campus.

The combined company immediately began pruning. It sold its airport security screening business to Leidos in 2020 and its military training and simulation business, including Link Simulation, to CAE for approximately $1.05 billion in a deal completed in 2022, along with a series of smaller divestitures intended to focus the portfolio on technology-differentiated products.

The defining acquisition came in July 2023, when L3Harris completed its purchase of Aerojet Rocketdyne for $4.7 billion, or $58 per share. The deal followed the Federal Trade Commission's successful 2022 challenge that killed Lockheed Martin's $4.4 billion bid for the same company, and it gave L3Harris one of the last independent sources of American rocket propulsion at a moment when missile demand was surging.

In March 2025 the company divested its Commercial Aviation Solutions disposal group. Fiscal 2025 then delivered what CEO Christopher Kubasik called an inflection point: revenue of $21.9 billion, up 3 percent and 5 percent organically, record orders of $27.5 billion producing a 1.3-times book-to-bill ratio, and record backlog of $38.7 billion. The LHX NeXt cost program exceeded its $1 billion savings commitment a year ahead of schedule.

The portfolio's most dramatic restructuring was announced for 2026. Beginning in the first quarter of 2026, L3Harris reorganized into three segments: Space and Mission Systems, Communications and Spectrum Dominance, and Missile Solutions. It agreed to sell a 60 percent stake in its civil Space Propulsion and Power Systems business to private equity firm AE Industrial Partners for approximately $845 million, and announced plans for an initial public offering of the Missile Solutions business in 2026, with the Department of War investing $1 billion in preferred securities convertible at a 20 percent discount to the IPO price plus detachable warrants.

L3Harris operates in a business where scrutiny is structural rather than episodic. Its most consequential regulatory event predates the current form: the FTC's 2022 lawsuit blocking Lockheed Martin's acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne on antitrust grounds, after which L3Harris purchased the company in 2023 without a federal challenge, a divergence analysts attributed to L3Harris being a smaller vertical-competition concern than Lockheed.

The company's sensors have drawn human-rights scrutiny. WESCAM imaging systems exported to Turkey ended up on Bayraktar TB2 drones, prompting Canada to suspend and then revoke export permits in 2021 after the systems appeared in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. China placed L3Harris on its sanctions lists as part of retaliation against U.S. defense contractors involved in Taiwan-related sales.

The Aerojet acquisition brought inherited environmental obligations, most notably the decades-old groundwater remediation around Aerojet's former Sacramento, California operations, one of the largest cleanup sites in the western United States, which the company continues to manage under regulatory oversight.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, L3Harris recorded an approximately $85 million non-cash goodwill impairment tied to the Space Technology disposal group, the business it subsequently agreed to sell in majority stake to AE Industrial Partners, an acknowledgment that part of the Aerojet portfolio had not met the valuation assigned at acquisition.