BAE Systems is a British multinational aerospace, military, and information security company that operates in the space industry. They design and deliver solutions for civil and commercial space agencies, specializing in radiation-hardened electronics, antenna design, and synthetic aperture radar processing for use in Earth orbit, near space, and deep space missions. BAE Systems partners with organizations like Airbus Defence and Space and LMO Space, and their customers include the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, and commercial space entities. They provide services such as satellite manufacturing, on-orbit operations, secure data delivery, and development of AI/ML systems for space platforms.
Identity changes, mergers, acquisitions, splits, and transferred business lines.
3 events
Scope: Ball Aerospace space and defense business
BAE Systems completed its acquisition of Ball Aerospace from Ball Corporation on 16 February 2024; the business became BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems.
Sold for GBP 84 million, giving EADS full ownership; company reorganized as EADS Astrium.
British Aerospace merged with Marconi Electronic Systems (MES) -- the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC) -- on Nov 30, 1999, in a GBP 7.7bn deal announced Jan 19, 1999, forming Europe's largest defense contractor, BAE Systems. GEC's remaining (non-defense) businesses were separately renamed Marconi plc, a distinct company unrelated to this transaction. DATA NOTE: "British Aerospace" has no distinct organization row in this database (aliased directly to BAE Systems). "Marconi Electronic Systems" also has no distinct row; "GEC Marconi Avionics" is used here as the closest available proxy for GEC's defense-electronics lineage -- this database's separate "Marconi" organization row most likely represents the unrelated post-1999 telecoms demerger (Marconi plc, later acquired by Ericsson in 2005), not the defense business, and was NOT used here. Confirmed via MoneyWeek/Wikipedia contemporaneous history and UK competition authority merger undertakings documents.