British Aerospace

British Aerospace (BAe) was a British aircraft manufacturer, now part of BAE Systems.

The company was formed on April 29, 1977 by the Aircraft and Shipbuilding Industries Act. This called for the nationalisation and merger of; the British Aircraft Corporation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and Scottish Aviation.

In 1979, joined Airbus, Britain having withdrawn support for the consortium in April 1969. In January 1981 BAe was converted to a public limited company with the government selling 51.57% of its shares the following month. The British government sold its remaining shares in 1985, maintaining a £1 golden share (giving the government veto power over company policy). On June 1 BAe delivered the first Panavia Tornado IDS to the Royal Air Force and on August 9 the first Tornado Air Defence Variant (ADV) rolled off the production line.

On September 26 1985 the British and Saudi Arabian governments signed the Al Yamamah contract, with British Aerospace as prime contractor. The contracts, extended in the 1990s and never fully detailed, involved the supply of Tornado strike and air defence aircraft, Hawk trainer jets, Rapier missile systems, infrastructure works and naval vessels. The Al Yamamah deals are valued at anything up to £20Bn and still continue to provide a large percentage of BAE Systems' profits.

In June 1986 after protracted negotiations, delays and false starts the Eurofighter partner nations, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK established Eurofighter GmbH for the development of the aircraft.

April 1987 saw the beginning of some significant investments beginning with Royal Ordnance. Rover Group plc, a 30% share in Hutchison Telecommunications, Heckler und Koch and various defence contractors were acquired between 1987 and 1991. In June 1991 Euroflag was established, the consortium formed to develop the European Future Large Aircraft (FLA,) which became the Airbus A400M. British Aerospace Corporate Jets Ltd. was formed in February 1992. In September the same year Avro RJ Regional Jets was formed to produce the Avro RJ series, the development of the BAe 146.

In 1991, following large expenditure and a recession, BAe saw its share price fall below 100p for the first time. Only the installment of a new chairman, Richard Evans, and an emergency rights issue saved the company from bankruptcy. It is interesting to note that GEC, later to sell its defence interests to BAe, came close to acquiring BAe at this time.

In January 1 1992 British Aerospace Defence Ltd began trading as a wholly-owned subsidiary of BAe. The three previously separate defence companies now operated as divisions of that subsidiary;

• British Aerospace (Military Aircraft) Ltd,
• British Aerospace (Dynamics) Ltd and
• Royal Ordnance plc

Following the largest British corporate write-down in 1992, BAe set about divesting some non-core interests. In June 1993 the BAe Corporate Jets subsidiary was sold to Raytheon but BAe continues to make the wings and various fuselage sections for the Hawker jet.

In March 1994 the Rover Group was sold to BMW and the first of the Eurofighter development aircraft (DA) flew from Manching, Germany. This is followed by BAe's DA2 on April 6. In July British Aerospace Space Systems division was sold to Matra Marconi Space. In October BAe Dynamics and GEC-Marconi form a joint venture company, UKAMS Ltd, the UK partner in the Principal Anti-Air Missile System (PAAMS) consortium. PAAMS was to equip the Horizon CNGF, later the Type 45 destroyer. Eurosam (Thomson-CSF/Aerospatiale/Alenia) formed the rest of the consortium.

In June 1995 Saab Military Aircraft and BAe signed an agreement for the joint development and marketing of the JAS 39 Gripen export version. BAe designed an improved wing, which they manufactured and eventually produced around 45% of export airframes.

In May 1996 BAe and Matra Defense agreed to form a missiles joint venture to be called Matra BAe Dynamics. In June 1997 BAe joined the Lockheed Martin X-35 Joint Strike Fighter team. GEC joins the competing Boeing X-32 team. In March 1998 BAe sold 16.11% of Orange plc, retaining 5%. The Orange shareholding is a legacy of the 30% stake in Hutchinson. In April BAe completes its purchase of Siemens Plessey, the defence systems business, from Siemens AG. Following its involvement in the Saab Gripen programme BAe acquired a 35% stake in Saab AB. In July UKAMS became a wholly owned subsidiary of BAe Dynamics.

BAe/MES merger

In January 1999 British Aerospace agreed the merger of itself with GEC's defence arm, Marconi Electronic Systems (MES). The company, initially called "New British Aerospace" was officially formed on November 30, 1999, known as BAE Systems.

See also

• Aircraft
• Hawker Siddeley Company