Burt Rutan formed Scaled Composites in Los Angeles in 1982. Since that time, his company has designed and flown revolutionary aircraft ranging from the globalflyer, to X Prize winning SpaceShipOne. Rutan has now sold the company to Northrop Grumman Corp. This is the third time Rutan has sold Scaled Composites, having repurchased the company twice before.

Northrop and Scaled Composites have worked together on a number of projects including the military B-2 Stealth Bomber and UAV projects. No change is expected in management. Rutan is an engineering genius, so it doesn't take a genius to see that its good business to leave him in charge!