Â鶹´«Ã½

Latest news on BAE Systems, a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues.

BAE Systems was formed in 1999 from the merger of British Aerospace (BAe) with Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC). BAe, in turn, dates to the merger (1977, with two other firms) of British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Hawker Siddeley Aviation, both having been nationalised a year earlier owing to unprofitable financial situations.

Through its BAe antecedents, BAE Systems carries the legacy of some 20 British aircraft firms (e.g., Bristol, Avro, Gloster, De Havilland, Supermarine), several dating to the first decades of flight. In the 1960s and early ’70s, BAC and Hawker Siddeley each produced significant aircraft. BAC built the Vickers-Armstrongs VC10 and BAC One-Eleven jetliners and, in partnership with Aerospatiale of France, the Concorde supersonic transport. Hawker Siddeley developed the HS 121 Trident jetliner, Vulcan bomber, and Harrier vertical/short-takeoff-and-landing (V/STOL) fighter.

Since its formation in 1999, BAE has made a number of acquisitions, most notably of United Defense and Armor Holdings of the United States, and sold its shares in Airbus, Astrium, AMS and Atlas Elektronik. It is involved in several major defence projects, including the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II, the Eurofighter Typhoon, the Astute-class submarine, and the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.