HRL is jointly owned by Boeing, Raytheon and General Motors. The parent companies commit to spending a certain amount on research every year, and researchers co

HRL is jointly owned by Boeing, Raytheon and General Motors. The parent companies commit to spending a certain amount on research every year, and researchers compete internally for those funds. This must have been a Boeing-funded project. That unlikely ownership is an historical accident: those megacorps each acquired pieces of Hughes Aircraft, which built Hughes Research Labs, now HRL.