Avionics

Avionics, a term derived by combining aviation and electronics, describes all of the electronic navigational, communications, and flight management equipment with which airplanes are equipped. In military aircraft, avionics also refers to electronically controlled weapons, reconnaissance (inspection of an area), and detection systems.

Until the 1940s, the systems involved in operating aircraft were purely mechanical, electric, or magnetic, with radio apparatus being the most complicated instrumentation. The invention of radar (an acronym for "radio detection and ranging," radar is a device that emits and receives radio waves), used to detect enemy planes during World War II (1939-45), led to the development of a whole class of electronic distance-measuring and navigational aids.