Parts obsolescence is a real issue in high-reliability electronics like aerospace and defense systems. According to an April 2008 article in IEEE Spectrum, Uncle Sam spends $10 billion per year managing and mitigating electronics obsolescence issues. It’s a tough job, but someone has to keep track of where all of the dead microwave nameplates go. Microwaves101 has been working at this endeavor for the past decade (see http://microwaves101.com/encyclopedia/wherenow.cfm).

Audience participation is important to building the database. Most of this material was contributed one or two companies at a time by alert readers of Microwaves101.com. Other resources provide the backgrounds of top-tier defense contractors, but we are focused on manufacturers of microwave components. Why? Picture this: you need to find replacement parts for a receiver that used custom Q-bit amplifiers that you paid big bucks for back in nineteen-ninety-whatever. Q-bit doesn’t exist anymore. Would you rather start again from scratch or track down the company that inherited all of those drawings?

Here, we present an alphabetized list of defunct microwave nameplates. If you have any new information or corrections, please send them to UnknownEditor@microwaves101.com.

We take no responsibility for errors or omissions.

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ACCO USA’s modeling and characterization teams (along with Agilent Technologies’ high-profile east coast Component Test Systems group) joined to form Auriga Measurement Systems (Lowell, MA) in 2004.

Adams-Russell was folded into M/A-COM a long time ago. M/A-COM was bought by AMP, which was bought by Tyco. Tyco then sold the M/A-COM division to Cobham, PLC.

AEP is now a Radiall Company. Founder Ben Travelli made arrangements to sell AEP to Radiall just before he passed away in 2005.

Airborne Instruments Laboratories (AIL) merged with EDO and has since been sold to ITT. AIL used to be in Deer Park, NY. But it has now relocated a few miles away to Amityville, NY.

Alpha Industries is part of Skyworks. Alpha Industries sold off its commercial millimeter products group, which became Advanced Frequency Products (AFP).

AFP was bought by ST Olektron. The group was then sold to Endwave.

American Electronic Laboratories, Inc. (AEL) of Colmar, PA—maker of antennas, microwave components, solid-state devices, and microwave instruments—was bought by Tracor and then BAE Systems-Electronics & Integrated Solutions. It has been owned by Cobham, PLC since 2008, operating in Landsdale, PA.

American Technical Ceramics (Huntington Station, NY) was bought by AVX in 2007.

Americon Microwave Industries, a manufacturer of microwave connectors and components, merged with Omni Spectra in the 1970s. The Founder and CEO of Americon, Bevin V. Cherot, became CEO of Omni Spectra until it was purchased by M/A-COM. After M/A-COM was sold to Tyco, some of the former M/A-COM employees purchased the Omni Spectra components (and name) and formed XMA Corp. (Manchester, NH).

AML Communications designs and manufactures amplifiers and subsystems. It was purchased by Microsemi Corp. this past May.

Amplica of Newbury Park, CA was bought by Comsat, Triax, and finally Charter Technologies before it was dismembered and scattered to the winds. Some of the original significant technical talent and founders are now involved with CAP Wireless, Inc. (also in Newbury Park, CA).

Amplifonix (Philadelphia, PA) is now part of Spectrum Microwave.

Anzac became part of M/A-COM, which was bought by AMP, which was bought by Tyco. Tyco sold M/A-COM to Cobham.

Applied Radiation Corp. (ARCO; Walnut Creek, CA) manufactured microwave linear accelerators and high-power microwave waveguide elements (pulse modulators, waveguide couplers, adapters, windows, tuners, etc.). It became the ARCO Division of High Voltage Engineering (circa 1965) and was later sold (circa 1970) to Siemens Medical Systems (Concord, CA).

Arcom was bought by Dover and then closed. LNX Corp. bought the assets from Dover and is now making products that Alpha (Skyworks) and others no longer make.

Atlantic Microwave is part of Cobham DES.

Avantek was purchased by HP Semiconductor, which became part of Agilent. As of December 2005, the Avantek division of HP that spun off to Agilent Technologies was sold and morphed into Avago Technologies. Another chunk of Avantek was sold to Powerwave Technologies. (This unit just recently closed its doors.) Some of the of Powerwave engineers (ex-Avantek also) formed a consulting firm called Telemakus, LLC. Some Avantek assets were picked up by Avnet, which formed Avnet-MTS. (MTS stands for “microwave technical solutions.”) Teledyne (via Teledyne Cougar) bought the assets of Avnet-MTS late in October 2005. Believe it or not, you may be able to buy that Avantek amplifier from Cougar. If Cougar doesn’t sell it or a replacement part, they actually stock a fair amount of the old Avantek die, according to insiders. Avantek also spawned a bunch of spinoffs:

• DBS Microwave formed and then sold itself to Narda Microwave, which consolidated DBS into its Narda West operation in Folsom, CA.

• Milliwave Technologies eventually sold itself to TRW Space and Electronics Group and stayed in Diamond Springs, CA. TRW subsequently sold Milliwave Technologies to Endgate Corp. The combined operation then became Endwave. Manufacturing remained in Diamond Springs, but all engineering, sales, and marketing went to Sunnyvale. The founders of Milliwave are the current founders of Norden Millimeter (Placerville, CA).

• ALC Microwave in El Dorado Hills, CA.

• Aldetec in Sacramento, CA.

• Phase One in Rocklin, CA.

• Genesis Microwave in El Dorado Hills, CA.

AWR Corp. was bought by National Instruments in July 2011 for $58 million.

BOMAC Laboratories (originally in Beverly, MA) was bought by Varian Associates around 1961-1962. Bomac was one of three sources of microwave diodes (1N21, 1N23, 1N58, etc.) as well as some magnetrons.

Celeritek Defense Group was sold to Teledyne Microwave and relocated from Santa Clara to Mountain View, CA.

Celeritek Semiconductor (Santa Clara, CA) was bought by Mimix Broadband in 2005. Mimix kept the product line and later sold the Celeritek gallium-arsenide (GaAs) fab to Universal Semiconductor Technology, Inc. (USTI).