1950 Racal formed as two-man consultancy by Raymond Brown and Calder Cunningham in North London.
1954 Racal moved headquarters to Bracknell, Berkshire.
1957 The ‘RA 17’ high frequency radio
receiver, the first Racal proprietary
product, began
an initial 20,000 production run.
1958 Death of Calder Cunningham.
1961 Racal Electronics became a public company.
1961 RACAL-SMD established - As joint venture between Racal Electronics and SMD
1962 Racal Electronics South Africa (RESA) established - Formerly RACAL-SMD
1965 Racal Electronics negotiates licence with RESA and starts development of ‘Squadcal’
1966 Mr. (later to become Sir Raymond)
Brown invited by British
Government to
become Head of Defence Sales at Ministry of Defence.
Mr. (now Sir Ernest) Harrison elected Chairman & Chief Executive of Racal Electronics.
‘Squadcal’, Racal's first tactical military manpack radio, entered production.
1969 British Communications Corporation
joined Racal through merger with
Controls and
Communications Group.
Entry into data
communications through 50/50 holding in Racal-Milgo
Limited, based
in UK, with the Milgo Electronic Corporation, USA.
Pre-tax profits of Racal exceeded £1 million for the first time.
1977 Milgo Electronic Corporation of Florida acquired for £37 million.
1980 Decca (capital goods) acquired for £106 million.
Data communications turnover exceeded £100 million for the first time.
1981 Radio communications turnover exceeded £100 million for the first time.
1982 Pre-tax profits of Racal exceeded £100 million for the first time.
1983 Racal granted a 25 year Government
licence to run the Vodafone
portable and
mobile public telephone service based on cellular technology.
1984 Chubb & Son plc acquired for
£180 million. The 1985/86 turnover of
the Racal Security
group amounted to £356 million to become the largest activity within
Racal.
1985 Racal-Vodafone opened Britain's first commercial cellular telephone service.
Total annual sales by Racal exceed £1 billion for the first time.
1988 Vodafone became the world's largest and most profitable cellular radio network.
Flotation of
cellular radio activities as Racal Telecom Plc, a major new
public company,
in which Racal Electronics Plc retained an 80 per cent holding.
Racal awarded
contract to establish a data network service for the UK
Government.
Wormald Security of Australia, bought for £60 million.
1989 The Government Data Network service
launched only 8 months after
award of contract.
Racal awarded
contract to provide a voice communications network for
the Department
of Social Security.
1991 Racal Telecom demerged through
a free issue of shares to Racal
shareholders,
becomes Vodafone Group Plc.
Racal wins its largest ever single radio contract valued at £70 million.
1992 D C Elsbury OBE, promoted to position of Chief Executive.
Security activities
demerged through a free issue of shares to Racal
shareholders,
becomes Chubb Security Plc.
Racal awarded its first commercial contract for a data network service.
1993 Racal (with Siemens Plessey) wins
project definition contract for British
Army ‘Bowman’
radio programme.
1994 Racal is one of the five founding
shareholders in Camelot Group plc
which, in May,
was chosen as the operator for the UK National Lottery
and sold the
first tickets on 14 November.
Racal awarded a Public Telecommunications Operator (PTO) licence.
1995 Racal voice and data network service
infrastructure extended to all five
continents.
Sensors division
of Thorn EMI Electronics acquired for £18.9 million.
BR Telecommunications
Ltd. acquired for £132.75 million.
1996 Racal wins contract to provide
Metropolitan Telephone Service for UK
Government.
Racal awarded an international telecommunications operators licence.
Racal radars
selected for major contracts worth, in total, over £200
million.
1997 Formation of Archer joint venture to supply the Ministry of Defence ‘Bowman’ programme.
2000 Sir Ernest Harrison ended 50 years
at Racal as he agreeded a £1.8bn takeover
by French defence giant Thomson-CSF. The new group becomes know as Thales.
