It covers the organization, design, development, integration, and operation of complex systems for space, air, ocean, or ground environment.

Three journals, sponsored and published in parallel by three professional groups, merged to form IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems in 1965.

[6][Note 1] Since its founding in 1965, the following have served as Editor-in-Chief: Each year, since 1962, the M. Barry Carlton Award is given to the author(s) of the best paper to appear in the journal.

[7] The award was named after M. Barry Carlton, former Assistant Secretary, Research and Development in the United States Department of Defense who died in the 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision.

The first award was given in 1962 to David Barton for the paper "The Future of Pulse Radar for Missile and Space Range Instrumentation" that appeared in the October 1961 issue of the IRE Transactions on Military Electronics.