The
Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by
T. Claude Ryan in
San Diego, California in 1934. Part of
Teledyne after 1969,
Northrop Grumman purchased Teledyne Ryan in 1999. Ryan built several historically and technically significant aircraft, including four innovative
V/STOL designs, but its most successful production aircraft would be the
Ryan Firebee line of unmanned drones used as targets and unmanned air vehicles.