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Thales (France) |
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World ranking: 7 Thales, 173 Blvd Haussmann, 75008 Paris, Cedex 08, France BackgroundIn 1998, the French government arranged for the reorganisation of Thomson-CSF, Alcatel, Dassault Electronique and Aerospatiale, to consolidate the military electronics businesses under Thomson-CSF. In June 2000 Thomson-CSF acquired Racal Electronics for £1.3bn, which both increased its focus on military electronics and established a major presence in the UK, and in December 2000 it agreed to form a joint venture with Raytheon of the US (Thales-Raytheon Systems). That same month, Thomson-CSF adopted the name of Thales, an ancient Greek philosopher, in a move to change perceptions of the rapidly expanding company. Thales Group is France's largest military company. It has 65,000 employees worldwide, half outside France, with a presence in nearly 50 countries and industrial operations in 30.3 The French government holds a 33% stake in Thales, Alcatel SA, the French telecommunications equipment producer, owns 16% and Dassault Aviation owns 6%. Thales in the UK Thales has swallowed up such familiar names as Racal, Thomson Marconi Sonar, Shorts Missile Systems, Thorn, Avimo and Pilkington Optronics,4 and is now the UK's second largest military supplier. It is involved with the UK's new aircraft carrier programmes, is to provide sonar suites for the Astute class submarine and it states that 'our advanced missile electronics products are used in almost every UK missile.'5 Thales UK plc (Thales Defence Ltd), 2 Dashwood Lang What it makes Thales is divided into three business areas: Aerospace, Defence and Information Technology & Services (IT&S).Aerospace provides for both civil and military markets. In its Defence business, Thales claims to be 'present on all types of air, sea and ground military platforms'.6 And in its IT&S business, 'We create incremental value from dual-use technology developed in our Aerospace and Defence sectors and put it to work for customers in the IT&S segment. These cost-effective products are then reinjected back into the Defence and Aerospace sectors.'7 Thales places a strong emphasis on military electronics and missiles, hence its tie-up with Raytheon. Avionics also features highly as do naval systems including radar, tracking and weapons, and optronics including lasers, night vision and precision guidance. Its activities range from delivering onboard computers for GIAT Industries' Leclerc tank to a cooperation agreement with MBDA to produce seekers for the Aster, Mica and Meteor missiles, to supplying the integrated communications system for the French-Italian Horizon frigates. Exports In 2002, 23% of Thales' revenues came from France, 13% from the UK, 19% from 'Other Europe', 13% from Asia-Pacific, 16% from the Middle East, 10% from North America and 6% from the 'Rest of World'.8 Thales is prime contractor for the Sawari 2 programme, which involves supplying three frigates to Saudi Arabia equipped with the Arabel multi-function anti-air fire control radar and Aster missile system.9 In Indonesia and Japan, Thales has won contracts for maritime patrol systems. Thales is prime contractor for electronic warfare systems for naval vessels and was selected by Brunei for its Waspada ships and by the UK for Type 45 destroyers.10 Shorts Missile Systems, which is now owned by Thales, has delivered over 60,000 missiles to 56 armed forces worldwide.11 References
Unless otherwise indicated, world ranking (by military sales), military sales and military sales percentage are sourced from Defense News (21.7.03) and refer to 2002
1 www.thalesgroup.com/ga/profile/profile.htm, accessed 13.08.03 Company Websites (including subsidiaries & joint ventures) Thales Group |
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[Published: September 2003] |
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