New Horizons was engineered at the Johns Hopkins University Applied
Physics Laboratory (APL).
The APL YouTube channel includes a reminder as to how APL was founded
in 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, to be one of the major
researchers into the development of the Radio Proximity Fuze.
They have a short video about it here :-
https://youtu.be/kx8EYZJ-e3o
History buffs will appreciate how the development of the 'VT' Radio Proximity
Fuze aided allied forces in WWII in the Pacific in helping down kamikaze
aircraft, was used to down over 2000 V-1 "Buzz Bombs" in England
and played a critical role during the Battle of the Bulge.