Thales Timeline - 1888-2003
| Year | Event |
| 1888 | Barr & Stroud established |
| 1893 | Creation of Compagnie Franaise Thomson-Houston |
| 1898 | The Gramophone Company established, eventually to become Electrical & Musical Industries (EMI) |
| 1909 | W. Vinten founded |
| 1910 | Formation of S.G. Brown Limited in Watford |
| 1918 | Creation of Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil (C.S.F.) |
| 1928 | Decca Gramophone Company created |
| 1935 | Formation of Amplivox Limited in Wembley |
| EMI begin the development of the first Radars in the World. | |
| Formation of the RTE company by Mullard in Balham, London | |
| 1937 | Creation of Avimo Ltd. |
| EMI produces the world's first television broadcast system for the BBC. | |
| 1938 | Creation of Rediffusion |
| 1942 | Decca Navigator Company created |
| 1947 | RTE re-named Mullard Equipment Ltd |
| 1948 | Rediffusion establish Redifon (primarily manufacturers of radio communications equipment) |
| 1950 | Racal founded by Raymond Brown and Calder Cunningham |
| Decca Radar Company created | |
| 1951 | Redifon establish a new business, Redifon Simulation |
| 1952 | First year of defence activities for Shorts |
| 1964 | Mullard Equipment Limited renamed MEL, a division of Philips Electronics |
| 1968 | Merger of Thomson-Brandt and the Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil (C.S.F.) to create Thomson-CSF |
| 1969 | Link Miles formed |
| 1970 | Racal acquires Amplivox Limited |
| 1971 | MEL absorbs the avionics business EK Cole (Ekco). |
| 1972 | Racal acquires S.G. Brown Limited |
| 1976 | Thomson-CSF Equipment and Systems Ltd set up on the UK |
| 1977 | Pilkington PLC acquires Barr & Stroud |
| 1978 | Racal Acoustics Limited formed from merger of SG Brown and Amplivox companies |
| 1979 | The EMI Group merges with Thorn Industries to create Thorn EMI |
| 1980 | All Redifon subsidiaries adopt new names to strengthen the Rediffusion corporate image; Redifon becomes Rediffusion Radio Systems and Redifon Simulation becomes Rediffusion Simulation. |
| Racal acquires Decca, bringing with it substantial expertise in Electronic Warfare and ground-based Radar, as well as the famous Decca Marine radar. | |
| 1983 | Racal successfully competes for one of the UK's first mobile phone licences with its new Vodafone subsidiary. |
| Thomson-CSF UK Ltd created | |
| 1984 | Racal acquires Chubb & Son plc |
| 1988 | A management buy-out at Rediffusion Radio Systems leads to the Company being relaunched under its original name of Redifon. |
| Hughes acquires Rediffusion Simulation and the company becomes Hughes Rediffusion Simulation | |
| Vinten split into two separate entities. W Vinten Ltd focus on reconnaissance equipment and Vinten Broadcast Limited concentrate on broadcast equipment solutions | |
| 20% of Racal Telecom Plc (now Vodafone Group Plc) was floated on the London Stock Exchange | |
| 1989 | Shorts acquired by Bombardier |
| 1990 | Thomson and Ferranti Computer Systems form Ferranti |
| Thomson Sonar Systems (Thomson acquire 50.1% share) | |
| Philips decide to pull out of the Defence industry. As a result, Thorn EMI Electronics acquires the Radar and EW Divisions of MEL while the Communications Division is acquired by Thomson-CSF | |
| Thomson-CSF takes 50% stake in Pilkington Optronics which then acquires Thorn EMI Electro-Optics. | |
| Thomson-CSF acquires Link Miles | |
| 1991 | Vodafone is demerged from Racal, later to become the UK's largest company |
| Redifon acquires SPT Limited and becomes Redifon SPT Limited | |
| 1992 | Chubb Security PLC is formed following demerger from Racal |
| 1993 | Shorts Missile Systems formed - a 50:50 Joint Venture between Thomson-CSF and Bombardier Shorts |
| 1994 | Thomson-CSF buys Ferranti-Sysec (Industrial Business Systems Division) |
| Camelot, of which Racal is a major shareholder, wins the competition to run the UKs National Lottery | |
| Thomson-CSF acquires Hughes Rediffusion Simulation and then merges this operation with the Link Miles to form Thomson Training & Simulation | |
| Redifon SPT is acquired by Thomson-CSF and the Company is relaunched as Redifon | |
| 1995 | Racal acquires Thorn EMI Electronics Sensors Group. Thorn's Missile Electronics Division is acquired by Thomson-CSF. |
| Racal acquires British Rail Telecommunications | |
| MEL Communications and Redifon merge to form Redifon MEL | |
| GEC Marconi acquire Ferranti share of FTSS to create Thomson Marconi Sonar | |
| 1996 | Racal Marine is sold to Litton |
| 1997 | Creation of Airsys ATM, a joint venture company of Thomson-CSF and Siemens Plessey. |
| Racal BRT merges with Racal Network Services to create Racal Telecom | |
| 1998 | Racal Radar Defence Systems, Racal Radio and Racal Thorn Wells merge to become Racal Defence Electronics |
| 1999 | BAE Systems acquire Marconi's 49.9% share of Thomson Marconi Sonar |
| Racal Telecom splits to form Racal Translink (a projects focussed organisation) and Racal Fieldforce (a maintenance focussed organisation) | |
| Racal Telecom is sold to Global Crossing Limited. | |
| 2000 | Thomson-CSF buys remaining shares in Pilkington Optronics |
| Thomson-CSF embarks on a friendly take-over of Racal Electronics PLC and creates Thomson-CSF Racal PLC | |
| Thomson-CSF buys the remaining half share in Shorts Missile Systems from Bombardier. | |
Thomson-CSF Racal PLC becomes Thales PLC | |
| W. Vinten Ltd acquired by the Avimo Group Ltd who are then acquired by Thales and become part of Thales Optronics | |
| 2001 | Shorts Missile Systems changes its name to Thales Air Defence |
| Siemens exercises its option to sell its 33% shareholding in Thales ATM to Thales | |
| BAE Systems sells its share of Thomson Marconi Sonar to Thales. The company is then renamed Thales Underwater Systems | |
| 2002 | Thales PLC Corporate Offices in Weybridge opened |
| Thales Translink and Thales Fieldforce merge to become Thales Telecom Services | |
| 2003 | Thales is selected to be part of the Tripartite Alliance to develop the UKs future Aircraft Carriers |
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