British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London in the United Kingdom and with operations worldwide. It is among the world's largest defence contractors; it ranked as the second-largest based on applicable 2012 revenues. Its largest operations are in the United Kingdom and the United States, where its BAE Systems Inc. subsidiary is one of the six largest suppliers to the US Department of Defense. Other major markets include Australia, India and Saudi Arabia. The company was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion mergers of two British companies; Marconi Electronic Systems (MES) – the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC) – and British Aerospace (BAe) – an aircraft, munitions and naval systems manufacturer.
After acquiring Canadair in 1986 and restoring it to profitability, Bombardier in 1989 acquired the near-bankrupt Short Brothers aircraft manufacturing company in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This was followed in 1990 by the acquisition of the bankrupt Learjet Company of Wichita, Kansas, builder of the Learjet business aircraft, and finally the money-losing Boeing subsidiary, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada-based in Toronto, Ontario in 1992.
Read more: BombardierRolls-Royce Limited was founded in 1906 by Henry Royce and Charles Rolls at the Midland Hotel in Manchester, as a manufacturer of luxury cars, before diversifying into aircraft engine manufacturing. The production of road vehicles remained a major activity of the company until the car business was split off in 1973 as Rolls-Royce Motors.
Read more: Rolls RoyceSikorsky was founded in 1925 by aircraft engineer Igor Sikorsky, an American immigrant who was born in Kiev. The company, named "Sikorsky Manufacturing Company", began aircraft production in Roosevelt, New York that year. In 1929 the company moved to Stratford, Connecticut. It became a part of United Aircraft and Transport Corporation (now United Technologies Corporation) in July of that year.
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The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company N.V. (EADS) was a global pan-European aerospace and defence corporation that operated 2000–2013 and was registered in the Netherlands. The group included Airbus which manufactured commercial aircraft, Airbus Military which manufactured tanker, transport and mission aircraft; Eurocopter, the world's largest helicopter supplier; Astrium, provided systems for aerial, land, naval and civilian security applications including Ariane, Galileo and Cassidian. Through Cassidian, EADS was a partner in the Eurofighter consortium as well as in the missile systems provider MBDA.
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