Racal

Racal Ltd was created in 1950 as a consultancy for the planning of radio communications systems, taking its name from its partners Raymond Brown and George Calder Cunningham, and Racal Electronics Ltd was registered as a private company on 30 June 1951 to supply electronic equipment. The first factory was at Isleworth in west London; in 1954 manufacturing moved to Bracknell in Berkshire, enticed by a 99-year lease at four shillings and sixpence a square foot. The RA17 communications receiver, in production from 1955 to at least 1973, made the company's name; shares were offered to the public in 1961 and new factories followed at Reading, Maidenhead and Woodley in 1967.

Under Ernest Harrison, chairman from 1966, Racal secured the British Army's battlefield-radio contracts, first Larkspur and then Clansman. Clansman had been developed by the Signals Research and Development Establishment during the 1960s to a 1965 General Staff Requirement and entered service in about 1976-78; Racal produced its VHF sets, including the PRC 349, alongside Plessey's HF sets, MEL's vehicle HF sets and Marconi's VRC 353. In the Land Rover the system meant the Fitted For Radio vehicle: 24-volt electrics, a radio table and Dexion racks in the rear body, the Clansman antenna tuning unit boxes on the wing tops and side-arm aerial mountings, a fit that lasted until Bowman replaced Clansman between 2004 and 2010.

Racal bought Decca in 1980 and in 1984 the Chubb security group, won one of the first two UK cellular licences in 1982 and launched Vodafone on 1 January 1985, floating 20 per cent of Racal Telecom in 1988 and demerging it in October 1991; Chubb was demerged in late 1992. In January 2000 Thomson-CSF announced its bid for the remainder of Racal and acquired the group for £1.3 billion, and when Thomson-CSF became Thales the Racal businesses went with it: Racal Electronics plc was renamed Thales Electronics plc on 20 December 2000 and remains on the register as Thales Electronics Limited, a holding company at Reading.