American Bosch ARMA Corporation (AMBAC) was located in Garden City, NY. At the start of 1960, it employed approximately 6,000 employees. AMBAC was founded in Brooklyn NY in 1918. It began by manufacturing high-intensity searchlights for military use but soon expanded into the design and manufacture of analog electro-mechanical gunfire control systems for use on US naval vessels.
During WWII, almost all of the US military's gunfire control systems were manufactured on Long Island, New York. The ARMA Division of AMBAC, Ford Instrument Company, and Sperry Gyroscope Company represented the state of the art in such systems and proved their capability to meet the government's needs. After the war's end, ARMA was awarded a contract by the US Air Force to design and manufacture the tail gun turret gunfire control system for the Boeing B-52.
There was constant discord within the ARMA Division between management and the unionized technical staff. Several long strikes occurred in 1951, 1953, and 1955 that left a level of bitterness among the employees. The 1960-1965 Atlas Missile Guidance System was the last large contract awarded to the ARMA Division. By 1973, American Bosch ARMA Corporation, including its ARMA Division, was sold to the United Technologies Corporation and was relocated to UTC's Pratt and Whitney facility in Stratford, Connecticut.
The 1958 illustration is by Frank Tinsley (1899-1965).
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