Avco was an early aviation company with financial interests in scores of ...

In 1947 AVCO name changed to Avco Manufacturing Corporation. 1959 Avco Manufacturing Corporation name changed to Avco Corporation. 1984 Textron acquired Avco Corporation, and renamed it Avco Systems Textron and in 1985 Avco Systems Textron became Textron Defense Systems. In 1995 Textron Systems Corporation is created, consisting of what is now Textron Defense Systems, Textron Marine & Land Systems, and Lycoming.

In the late 60s and 70s Avco Systems' Lowell, MA facility was manufacturing specialty materials such as boron and silicon carbide fibers and metal matrix composites (MMCs) for its own internal use. Most of these materials had been developed through government funding, including the Apollo program to land a man on the moon.