International Rectifier’s standard and radiation-hardened devices are recognized for their excellent reliability with unparalleled design heritage and are at the heart of systems powering mankind’s most mission critical applications. You will find us throughout the world and above it, in commercial and military aircraft, missiles, smart munitions, weapon systems, launch vehicles, LEO/MEO and GEO satellites. Among many programs IR is in support of are:

	Orbital Express Space Operations Architecture website The goal of the Orbital Express Space Operations Architecture program is to validate the technical feasibility of robotic, autonomous on-orbit refueling and reconfiguration of satellites to support a broad range of future U.S. national security and commercial space programs. Refueling satellites will enable frequent maneuver to improve coverage, change arrival times to counter denial and deception and improve survivability, as well as extend satellite lifetime. Electronics upgrades on-orbit can provide regular performance improvements and dramatically reduce the time to deploy new technology on-orbit.
F-22 Raptor website The F-22 Raptor is a fifth generation fighter aircraft which utilizes fourth generation Stealth technology. It was originally envisioned as an air superiority fighter for use against the Soviet Air Force, but is equipped for ground attack, electronic warfare and signals intelligence roles as well. Faced with a protracted development period, the prototype aircraft was designated YF-22 and, as F/A-22 during the three years before formally entering United States Air Force service in December 2005 as the F-22A. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is the prime contractor and is responsible for the majority of the airframe, weapon systems and final assembly of the F-22. Along with Lockheed Martin, partner Boeing Integrated Defense Systems provides the wings, aft fuselage, avionics integration, and all of the pilot and maintenance training systems.
	F-35 Lightning II Aircraft website The F-35 Lightning II is a single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multi-role aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air-to-air combat. The F-35 descended from the X-35 of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Its development is being principally funded by the United States and the United Kingdom with other partner governments providing additional funding. It is being designed and built by an aerospace industry team led by Lockheed Martin with major partners BAE Systems and Northrop Grumman. Demonstrator aircraft flew in 2000 and a production model first took flight on 15 December 2006.
XM Satellite website XM Satellite Radio ordered two Boeing 702 satellites in March 1998, and later ordered a third to serve as a ground spare. These S-band spacecraft provide state-of-the-art digital radio programming directly to cars, homes and portable radios coast-to-coast in the United States. The satellites have a Digital Audio Radio payload provided by Alcatel of France. The satellites were designed for an end-of-life power of more than 15 kW. The first two XM satellites -- XM-Rock and XM-Roll -- were launched in 2001 by Sea Launch. XM-3 was launched in 2005 by Sea Launch. A fourth XM satellite was ordered in August 2003 and was launched by Sea Launch in 2006.
	Direct TV Satellite website Hughes Electronics launched a revolution in television broadcasting in North America with three powerful Boeing 601 direct broadcast satellites. The first, DIRECTV 1, began service in 1994 for DIRECTV and U.S. Satellite Broadcasting (now owned by DIRECTV). DIRECTV 2 and DIRECTV 3 are dedicated to providing DIRECTV service. Using state-of-the-art digital technology, multiple video signals are compressed into each transponder. More than 200 channels of entertainment programming are available from a single orbital location of 101 degrees West longitude. DIRECTV 1 was launched in December 1993 on an Ariane rocket. DIRECTV 2 followed on an Atlas vehicle in August 1994. DIRECTV 3 was launched by Ariane in June 1995. In December 1998, DIRECTV ordered a fourth satellite, DIRECTV 1-R, a Boeing 601HP model spacecraft. DIRECTV 1-R carries 16 Ku-band transponders. The 7,500-watt spacecraft will deliver 30 percent more power than the earlier models, enabling DIRECTV to expand direct-to-home programming services. DIRECTV 1-R was launched in October 1999 as the first commercial satellite carried by Sea Launch. In December 1999, DIRECTV ordered another Boeing 601HP satellite, DIRECTV-4S. The satellite is first spacecraft in the DIRECTV fleet to use highly focused spot-beam technology. The satellite was launched on an Ariane rocket in November 2001. DIRECTV-4S is stationed with other DIRECTV satellites at 101 degrees West longitude. In 2004, DIRECTV ordered three additional satellites, DIRECTV 10, 11, and a ground spare, DIRECTV 12.
The James Webb Space Telescope website The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2013. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range. JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won't fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open only once JWST is in outer space. JWST will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.
	Minuteman III Missile Guidance Set website The LGM-30 Minuteman is a United States nuclear missile, a land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). As of 2007, it is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States. It is complemented by the sea-launched Trident missile SLBM and by nuclear weapons carried by long-range strategic bombers; see current status of United States nuclear weapons. The “L” indicates that the missile is silo-launched; the “G” indicates that it is designed to attack ground targets; the “M” indicates that it is a guided missile. The name “Minuteman” comes from the Revolutionary War’s Minutemen. The Air Force planned to keep the missile in service until 2020, but it may be upgraded to stay in service until 2040.
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites website The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (or GOES) program is a key element in United States' National Weather Service (NWS) operations. Designed to operate in geostationary orbit, the advanced GOES I–M spacecraft continuously view the continental United States, neighboring environs of the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, and Central, South America and southern Canada. The three-axis, body-stabilized spacecraft design enables the sensors to "stare" at the earth and thus more frequently image clouds, monitor earth's surface temperature and water vapor fields, and sound the atmosphere for its vertical thermal and vapor structures. Thus the evolution of atmospheric phenomena can be followed, ensuring real-time coverage of short-lived dynamic events, especially severe local storms and tropical cyclones—two meteorological events that directly affect public safety, protection of property, and ultimately, economic health and development. The importance of this capability has recently been exemplified during hurricanes Hugo (1989) and Andrew (1992).
	DAWN website The Dawn Mission is a NASA mission that will send the Dawn spacecraft, a robotic space probe, to the asteroid belt. Dawn will orbit and examine the two most massive members of the asteroid belt, the dwarf planet Ceres and the asteroid Vesta. Dawn will be the first spacecraft to enter into orbit around two different planetary bodies other than the Earth and Moon, and the first to visit the largest asteroid. Launch is scheduled for September 2007.