Astronautics Corporation of America Astronautics Corporation of America ( ACA ) was established in 1959 and is a major supplier , designer , and manufacturer of avionics equipment to airlines , U . S . and international governments , commercial and defense aircraft manufacturers , and other major avionics systems integrators . Over 150 , 000 aircraft worldwide have been equipped with Astronautics instruments , displays , computers & components . Astronautics products are used in numerous air , sea , ground , and missile and space applications . Astronautics major product lines include Electronic Flight Instrument System , Electronic flight bag , Engine Indicating and Crew Alerting System , Network Server Systems , Multifunction Displays , Mission and display processors and systems , Flight director , Flight control system , Inertial guidance system , Air data computer , Integrated Network Server Unit and Auto pilot . History . In June 1959 , in Milwaukee , Wisconsin , Nate Zelazo decided to start a new company devoted to advanced technology in the Aerospace field . Together with his sister , Norma Paige , he organized a small group of experienced engineers and established the Astronautics Corporation of America . Having had previous experience being employed by the Navy Department and with his knowledge of government procurement the company began to compete for government business for the military . Initially , the company worked with local universities and with their help was soon was able to obtain a program from the US Air Force investigating fuel management techniques for space vehicle orbital rendezvous . Mr . Zelazo and his small staff of engineers had an extensive background in designing and developing flight instrumentation . Thus , after working on the Air Force space program , they began to compete with their much larger competitors for Navy , Army and Air Force flight instrumentation production programs . In the latter half of the 1960s , Astronautics received substantial backing from the American City Bank and Trust Company . After that corporation was bankrupted by the 1973 - 75 recession , Zelazo hired its former CEO , Pete Erickson , as Astronautics ' CFO in 1976 . Erickson helped grow the company over the next thirteen years ( until his retirement ) , masterfully investing its booked capital in the stock and bond market and arranging the highly successful purchase of a corporate building on the city ' s west side in 1982 . Today , that Teutonia Avenue location is the corporate headquarters . He also handled the financial side of the purchase of Astronautics ’ subsidiary , Kearfott Corporation , in 1988 . Having won several production programs for aircraft flight instruments for the military , Astronautics soon developed a design and production capability . They began supplying flight instrumentation for aircraft such as the B - 52 , F - 4 , A - 4 , C - 130 , UH - 1 , P - 3 and many others . This capability was soon expanded to provide the complete flight director systems , which included the flight director computer , for several military aircraft . As military flight instrumentation advanced , Astronautics began competing for the new Cathode Ray Tube ( CRT ) technology that was being applied to aircraft instrumentation . Astronautics was successful and won a contract to provide the Horizontal Situation Display ( HSD ) for the Air Force F - 111 Aircraft . This display program , which combined CRT and optical technologies , resulted in further expansion of Astronautics Engineering , Quality , Reliability , Production and Contract Administration Departments . Astronautics then also developed the Head Up Display for both the A - 10 Aircraft and the Shuttle trainer aircraft . Having design and production capability for CRT displays , Astronautics became a supplier of medical monitors for CAT scanners and also supplied displays to NASA for the mission control center in Houston , Texas . In avionics , Astronautics became a supplier to Italian , German and British governments for their high performance aircraft with new avionics equipment . Numerous new developments were then made by Astronautics in flat panel displays and digital avionics . Astronautics not only supplies military aircraft worldwide with its highly sophisticated avionics , but now also supplies the airlines and cargo carriers with the Electronic Flight Bag and also the latest technology in airborne servers . Having acquired Kearfott Guidance & Navigation Corporation in 1988 , Astronautics also provides Inertial Navigation Systems for Space , Satellite and Sea applications . Astronautics attempted to enter the low - end supercomputer market with a design from Dr . James Smith of the University of Wisconsin , CS Dept . This model was designated the ZS - 1 . A single model was produced but failed to enter the market place . The single model is now a part of the Rhode Island Computer Museum . Product Lines . Astronautics major product lines include :