History

A century old legacy in the United States

The Thales Group and its U.S. operation, Thales USA, are not newcomers to the U.S. market - our American roots date back over 100 years to a company founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Over a century later, both the global company and Thales USA have evolved significantly through strong embryonic growth coupled with a series of mergers, acquisitions and other business ventures. 
 

Through this evolution, the company's multi-domestic business strategy has ensured that investment in the U.S. market, economy and workforce remained strong. Today, Thales USA has fifteen primary locations in eleven states. While divesting some non-core, U.S. based businesses the company's workforce and revenues in the U.S. are on the rise. 
 

But even today the roots of Thales' presence in the U.S. can be seen in our successful operations across the States. With locations in Irvine, California, Seattle, Washington and Edison, New Jersey, Thales USA's commercial aviation business manufactures in-flight entertainment systems for the world's airlines and in close collaboration with Airbus and Boeing. This U.S. based business has grown considerably through Thales investments made since the legacy U.S. company, BE-Avionics, was acquired in 1999. 
 

And, Thales USA is home to the company's successful tactical communications business. Today, in Clarksburg, Maryland, our communications business, brought into the Thales organization through the acquisition of Racal in 2000, supports all of the U.S. military branches with cutting edge, software-defined communications technology. 
 

Following is a brief overview of just some of the U.S. and international developments that have created today's Thales Group and the Thales USA business.

1892: Thomson-Houston Electric Co. founded in Philadelphia, PA by American inventors Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston.

1892:Thomson-Houston merges part of its domestic operations with rival Edison General Electric to form what is known today as General Electric.

1893: Thomson-Houston forms the Compagnie Française Thomson-Houston (CFTH) in Paris as a sister company to GE in the United States. It is from this company that the Thomson Group would evolve.

1918: Emile Girardeau forms CSF (Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie sans Fil) to expand on SFR's existing manufacturing capabilities to include carrier services. CSF progressively becomes the parent company of SFR.

1950: Racal created in the United Kingdom by Raymond Brown and Calder Cunningham to manufacture military radio sets.

1962: CSF begins forming partnerships in the United States - acquiring and divesting companies such as DuMont, Johnson-Yokogawa (Syseca, Inc.) and Aonix.

1967:CFTH merges with Hotchkiss-Brandt to form Thomson-Houston-Hotchkiss-Brandt (soon renamed Thomson-Brandt).

1968:The electronics business of Thomson-Brandt merges with longtime rival CSF to form Thomson-CSF. Thomson Brandt maintains a significant shareholding in this company (approximately 40%).

1986: Thomson-CSF acquires Comark in Colmar, Pennsylvania. In 1996, Thomson-CSF acquires Comwave, which then merges internally with Comark in 1999 to form the Thomson-CSF entity, Thomcast Communications. Thomcast Communications became Thales Broadcast & Mutimedia in 2001, and was eventually divested in 2005.

1987: Thomson buys RCA and GE Consumer Electronics from GE.

1988:Thomson-CSF acquires Wilcox Electric Located in Shawnee, Kansas.

1989: Thomson-CSF and Aérospatiale form a joint venture called Sextant Avionique. The joint venture merges Crouzet, Sfena, EAS and the AVG division of Thomson-CSF.

1997:Thomson-CSF and Siemens form the joint venture, Airsys ATM, which assumes the business acquired with Wilcox in Shawnee, Kansas in 1988.

1999: Sextant Avionique, a joint venture of Thomson-CSF and Aerospatiale, acquires 51% of BE-Avionics, which specializes in cabin electronics, in early 1999, with the further 49% gained a year later. The group is renamed Thales Avionics in 2001 and provides technical support for avionics equipment in the US. Locations include offices in Seattle near the Boeing plant and in Edison, NJ (near New York).

2000: After a decade of expansion and revision culminating in the acquisition of Racal Electronics, Thomson-CSF is renamed Thales.

2000:One of Racal's subsidiaries in the US is renamed Thales Communications, Inc. Located in Clarksburg, Maryland, this proxy-regulated company produces compact tranceivers for various military and paramilitary users.

2000:Thales forms a joint venture with L3 Communications, called ACSS (Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems) of which L3 Communications holds 70% of its capital. ACSS employs 275 people in Phoenix, Arizona.

2001: Thales and Raytheon set up the first ever transatlantic joint venture in the field of defense - ThalesRaytheonSystems - dealing in air defense. Primary locations include Massy, France (near Paris) and Fullerton, California.

2001: Magellan, later named Thales Navigation, is acquired by Thales.

2001: Thales acquires partially owned joint venture, Airsys ATM from Siemens. The entity, based in Shawnee, Kansas is renamed Thales ATM and produces navigation and landing equipment.

2002: Thales Secure Solutions acquires two companies in the United States: Experlan (training) and Global Control (computer network security).

2006: Magellan (Thales Navigation) is divested.

2007:Thales expands naval footprint in US by forming a joint venture with DRS called Sonar Systems specializing in undersea warfare systems.

2009:Thales North America, Inc. is renamed Thales USA, Inc., a U.S. subsidiary of Thales Group SA, to reflect its stronger commitment to U.S. operations.

2009: Thales USA creates a new organization, Thales USA Defense and Security, Inc., expanding Thales’s presence among Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security and other national security market segments.