Жалпы Атомикс: Американдық қорғаныс және энергетика компаниясы

American defense and energy company

General Atomics (GA) is an American energy and defense corporation headquartered in San Diego, California, that specializes in research and technology development. This includes physics research in support of nuclear fission and nuclear fusion energy. The company also provides research and manufacturing services for remotely operated surveillance aircraft, including the Predator drones, airborne sensors, and advanced electric, electronic, wireless, and laser technologies.

General Atomics was founded on July 18, 1955, in San Diego, California, by Frederic de Hoffmann with assistance from notable physicists Edward Teller and Freeman Dyson. The company was originally part of the General Atomic division of General Dynamics "for harnessing the power of nuclear technologies". GA's first offices were in the General Dynamics facility on Hancock Street in San Diego. GA also used a schoolhouse on San Diego's Barnard Street as its temporary headquarters, which it would later "adopt" as part of its Education Outreach program. In 1956, San Diego voters approved the transfer of land to GA for permanent facilities in Torrey Pines, and the John Jay Hopkins Laboratory for Pure and Applied Science was formally dedicated there on June 25, 1959. The Torrey Pines facility serves as the company's headquarters today. General Atomics's initial projects were the TRIGA nuclear research reactor, which was designed to be safe, and Project Orion. GA helped develop and run the San Diego Supercomputer Center. In 1967, the company was sold to Gulf Oil and renamed "Gulf General Atomic". It was renamed "General Atomic Company" when Royal Dutch Shell Group's Scallop Nuclear Inc. became a 50–50 partner in 1973. It was taken over by Chevron following its merger with Gulf Oil in 1984. In 1986, it was sold to a company owned by Neal Blue and Linden Blue. In 1979, Harold Agnew was appointed President and CEO of the company. In 1987, former US Navy Rear Admiral Thomas J. Cassidy Jr. joined the corporation. In 1993, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA ASI) was created with Neal Blue as Chairman CEO and Thomas J. Cassidy as president. In 1994, GA ASI spun off as an affiliate. On March 15, 2010, Rear Adm. Thomas J. Cassidy stepped down as President of GA ASI's Aircraft Systems Group, staying on as non executive chairman of the company's management committee. Frank Pace, the executive vice president of Aircraft Systems Group, succeeded Cassidy as President of GA ASI. General Atomics, including its affiliate, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, is San Diego County's largest defense contractor, according to a September 2013 report by the San Diego Military Affairs Council. The top five contractors, ranked by defense generated revenue in fiscal year 2013, were General Atomics, followed by Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics NASSCO, BAE Systems, and SAIC. A separate October 2013 report by the San Diego Business Journal ranked contractors by the number of local employees. The top three contractors were General Atomics, Northrop Grumman, and General Dynamics NASSCO. In September 2020, a $7.4 billion contract for MQ 9 Reaper drones was announced between the U. S. Air Force and General Atomics. The contract calls for the delivery of up to 36 aircraft per year.

General Atomics is led by chairman and CEO Neal Blue and his brother, Linden Blue. Linden P. Blue is the chief executive officer of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA ASI), the division responsible for manufacturing and selling the Reaper UAV. Dave R. Alexander is the President of GA ASI. Scott Forney is the President of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA EMS).

Since 1992, the General Atomics Science Education Outreach Program, a volunteer effort of GA employees and San Diego science teachers, has worked with Science Coordinators for the San Diego Schools to bring the business and research sides of science into classrooms. In 1995, the program was expanded, and the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation [501(c)(3)] was established. Four areas of "core competency" at General Atomics were initially selected to form the basis for the development of its education modules and associated workshops. Scientist and teacher teams wrote these modules.

Since 2005, the Center for Responsible Politics reported General Atomics had spent over $1.5 million per year in lobbying efforts from 2005 to 2011. In April 2002, the company paid for Letitia White, who was then a top aide to Representative Jerry Lewis, and her husband to travel to Italy. White left Lewis' office nine months later, to become a lobbyist at Copeland Lowery. The next day, she began representing General Atomics. Lewis, her former boss, was at the time chairman of the House Defense Appropriations subcommittee.