MOOG INC.

1950s: Founding

In April 1950 Bill Moog applied for a patent for the electrohydraulic servo valve (later called a "Moog Valve". This device to control hydraulic pressure for fine control of actuators, initially to control the movement of guided missiles. The US patent 2625136 was issued in January 1953. Bill was a design engineer at Cornell Aeronautical Laboratories in Buffalo, New York. He was a cousin to Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesizer.

Meanwhile, in July 1951, Bill Moog, his brother Art Moog, and fellow engineer at Cornell Lou Geyer pooled $3,000 to start the company Moog Valve Company Inc. Early press reports seem to indicate that the company was also referred to as Moog Value Company Inc. According to company records, they had limited resources, a primitive work facility in the corner of a dirt-floored airplane hangar in East Aurora, NY, and only a couple of potential customers.

According to the Commercial and Financial Chronicle, Moog's first public offering of shares took place in 1959, with the company having changed its name to Moog Servocontrols Inc filing an offering of 130,000 shares on 30 March 1959, with Kidder Peabody as the placing broker-dealer. Although the offering was initially postponed, the company's shares were subsequently traded over the counter.

1960s to 1980s: Growth and international expansion

In September 1965, shareholders approved a six-for-five stock split and increased the company's authorised shares from 700,000 to one million, and changed its name from Moog Servocontrols Inc to Moog Inc. The company said that the changes were required for a planned listing on the American Stock Exchange.

By the end of 1965, Moog Inc had completed its listing on the American Stock Exchange and was now trading as Moog Inc.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Moog continued to grow, diversifying into providing flight control systems and actuators for commercial aircraft programs and industrial applications, and expanded internationally, opening subsidiaries and manufacturing and engineering facilities in the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

1990s: Declining defense spending and acquisitions

The early 1990s presented Moog with its greatest strategic challenge since its founding. The end of the Cold War led to significant reductions in US defence procurement. From 1990-1994, Moog's overall revenues grew by only 1.2%. Without acquisitions in that time period, they would fallen by 6.2%.

In 1994, Moog acquired the hydraulic and mechanical actuation product lines of AlliedSignal Inc, based in Torrance, California. This strengthened their positioned in actuation products in both the military and commercial aircraft segments.

In December 1995, Moog acquired the servovalve product line of Ultra Hydraulics Limited, a United Kingdom based manufacturer of hydraulic components, strengthening its position in the international market. In October 1996, Moog acquired the industrial hydraulic servocontrols business of International Motion Control Inc.

By this time, Moog's business had significantly diversified, with products ranging from entertainment motion simulators, flight controls for Commercial Aircraft, controls for communications satellites and launch vehicles as well as military aircraft programs such as the F/A-18 Super Hornet and V-22 Osprey. Government sales had dropped from 57% of total revenues to 39% of total revenues during the period 1993-1997.

In 1998, Moog acquired the Raytheon Aircraft Montek Company, located in Salt Lake City, Utah, which supplied flight controls for commercial airplanes and regional and business jets, as well as steering controls for tactical missiles and servovalves for both industrial and aerospace applications.

Moog expanded its industrial controls business with two further acquisitions - Hydrolux SARL, a Luxembourg manufacturer and designer of hydraulic power control systems for industrial machinery, and Microset Srl, an Italian manufacturer and designer of electronic controls for industrial machinery. Moog now claimed to be the world's market leader in industrial servovalves for a wide variety of industrial applications requiring the precise control of position, velocity and force.

By the end of the decade, Moog had more than doubled its total sales, and had also reorganised itself into three operating divisions:

Aircraft controls

Satellite and Launch Vehicle Controls

Industrial controls

2000s: Continued growth and further acquisitions

In 2000, it was announced that Moog would be working with both Boeing and Lockheed Martin on the next generation fighter aircraft for the US military, the Joint Strike Fighter program. This would ultimately become the F-35 Lightning fighter aircraft, and would be Moog's single largest ever program.

In 2004, Moog purchased Poly-Scientific from Northrop Grumman, a subsidiary specialising in slip rings, fiber optic rotary joints and motors that serve very broad markets from aviation and defence to industrial and medical. This resulted in Moog establishing a fourth business division, Components Division, alongside the existing three divisions.

In the mid-2000s, the company continued to grow, with new development programs such as the F-35 JSF and US National Missile Defense development initiative, where Moog supplied valves for the final stage kill vehicle, complemented by production programs such as the F-15 and the Hellfire tactical missile.

In 2006, the company established another new division, Medical Devices, following the acquisition of first Curlin Medical and then McKinley Medical. The division would focus on Moog's growing business supplying sensors, pumps and other components to the medical industry.

Moog closed the decade by buying GE Aviation 's flight control actuation business, based in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom. This ultimately became Moog Wolverhampton, Moog's largest business in the UK and its largest military aircraft facility outside the United States. The acquisition brought Moog contracts for the primary flight controls for the Eurofighter Typhoon, and the main engine lift system for the Rolls-Royce engine on the STOVL version of the F-35.

By the end of the decade, Moog's annual sales had grown from $630 million in 1999 to $1,849 million in 2009.

2010s: Consolidation and focus on aerospace and defense

Moog entered the 2010s still pursuing growth through with further acquisitions, diversifying its space and defense business with the purchase of two companies specialising in security and surveillance. Moog's medical devices business also expanded via acquisitions, with Moog acquiring Ethox International, a manufacturer of medical disposables and provider of microbiology, toxicology, and sterilization services and Aitecs, a Lithuania-based manufacturer of infusion therapy pumps.

By the middle of the decade, however, management had shifted strategy towards concentrating on Moog's traditional strengths in aerospace and defence, while simplifying its corporate structure. Between 2016 and 2019 Moog divested some non-core businesses within its Medical Devices, Components and Industrial divisions, eventually consolidating all three divisions back into a single Industrial Division, leaving the business with the same structure as it had in 1999, organised around three divisions - Aircraft Controls, Space and Defense Controls and Industrial Systems.

At the same time, Moog benefited from rising production rates on several long-term military and commercial aircraft programs, particularly the F-35 program which had become the largest in the firm's history. Its Space and Defense Controls division also expanded across satellites, launch vehicles, precision-guided weapons, naval systems and surveillance technologies.

2020s: Defense growth and public scrutiny

The decade began with the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which sharply reduced demand in commercial aviation and industrial markets. Moog's sales nevertheless declined by only 1% in 2020, from $2.91 billion to $2.89 billion, as lower commercial aircraft and industrial sales were partly offset by increased demand for military aircraft and space and defense products. Its total backlog increased by 14% to $2.56 billion during the year.

In December 2020, Moog announced the acquisition of Genesys Aerosystems, based in Mineral Wells, TX, significantly boosting Moog's presence in the design and manufacture of avionics, electronic flight instrument systems and autopilot solutions.

As commercial aviation subsequently recovered, Moog also benefited from increased international defence expenditure and demand generated by growing geopolitical tensions. Production and development work included the F-35, new military aircraft programmes, missile systems, naval platforms, satellites and launch vehicles. By 2024, sales under United States Government contracts represented 38% of total company sales, while a further 9% came from foreign governments.

Pat Roche, previously President of the Industrial Division, was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in 2023. As Roche was not a United States citizen, this led to the U.S. Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (the “DCSA”) invalidating Moog's security clearance, which limited Moog's ability to enter into new government contracts that required facility security clearance. Moog resolved the issue by reorganizing its business, separating Aircraft Controls into distinct Military Aircraft and Commercial Aircraft divisions, with independent management structures. In this structure, Mark Graczyk, president and senior management official for Moog Military Aircraft, reported to the subsidiary's board of directors. The company thereafter reported four operating segments: Military Aircraft, Space and Defense, Commercial Aircraft and Industrial.

Between 2022 and 2025, annual sales increased from $3.04 billion to $3.86 billion. The company's growing defence business also brought increased public scrutiny. In October 2024, following a long investigation, Moog agreed a settlement of $1.7 million with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in relation to charges of breaches of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Subsequently, following the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war in October 2023, press coverage and campaigners drew attention to Moog components use in military aircraft and weapons systems supplied to Israel. In August 2025, four protesters staged a roof protest at Moog's Wolverhampton factory, protesting against the Moog's supply of F-35 and M-346 military aircraft components to Israel. In April 2026, M-346 shipments from Moog Wolverhampton to Israel were intercepted by Belgian customs authorities and seized, prompting a criminal investigation into alleged breaches of Belgian export and transit laws, and questions in Belgian parliament.

By the middle of the decade, Moog had become a substantially larger and more defense-dependent company, benefiting from increased military expenditure and renewed growth in commercial aviation, while facing greater scrutiny over the end use of its products and its position within global arms supply chains.

Moog at 75

In 2026, Moog marked the 75th anniversary of its founding with a year-long programme of activities under the theme "Moog at 75". The company published a series of historical articles and videos reflecting on its development since 1951, highlighting milestones in aerospace, defense, industrial automation and space exploration, while also celebrating the contributions of employees throughout its history.