Tennant Named President of Air Force Think Tank

Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, named Samuel M. Tennant president and chief operating officer, succeeding Eberhardt Rechtin, who has headed the nonprofit research company for 10 years.

Tennant, whose promotion will be effective in December, was vice president of the programs group at Aerospace and was a member of the firm’s executive group.

Tennant, who is also the co-inventor of the Travernetti-Tennant total knee prosthesis, started at Aerospace in 1961.

Rechtin was chief engineer at Hewlett-Packard before joining Aerospace in 1977. He also served as principal deputy director of defense research and engineering and was secretary of defense for telecommunications.

Tennant will become only the third president in Aerospace’s 27-year history. The company was established by an act of Congress to provide the Air Force with engineering and architectural services for military space hardware.

In its technical role, Aerospace plays a key role in highly secretive area of military space, helping design and set specifications for such systems as military communications satellites, photo reconnaissance satellites and electronic reconnaissance satellites.

During Rechtin’s tenure, Aerospace sales nearly tripled, rising to a projected $367 million in the current fiscal year from $126 million in 1977.