Thales Group

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{{Infobox Company | company_name = Thales Group | company_logo = Image:Thales-logo.png | company_type = Public Template:Euronext | foundation = 6 December 2000 | location = Neuilly-sur-Seine, France | key_people = Denis Ranque (Chairman & CEO) | industry = Aerospace, Defence and IT | products = | revenue = €10,275.9 million (Y/E 2004) | operating_income = €590.2 million | net_income = €354.2 million | num_employees = 55,476 (2004) | parent = | subsid = | homepage = www.thalesgroup.com | footnotes = }} The Thales Group (Template:Euronext) is a global electronics company serving aerospace, defence, and information technology markets worldwide. The company changed its name to Thales from Thomson-CSF in December 2000 shortly after the £1.3bn acquisition of Racal Electronics plc, a UK defence electronics group. It is now partially state-owned, and has operations in more than 30 countries and 65,000 employees, and generated 11.1 billion euros in revenues in 2002.

1 History
- 1.1 Alcatel deal
- 1.2 Korean affair
2 Areas of business
3 Major shareholders
4 See also
5 External links

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History

For a full history prior to 2000 see the main article: Thomson-CSF

Thales' predecessor, Thomson-CSF, evolved from Compagnie Francaise Thomson-Houston (CFTH), which was established in 1893. However Thomson-CSF itself was established in 1968 when Thomson-Brandt (the renamed CFTH) merged its electronics arm with that of Compagnie Générale de Télégraphie Sans Fil (CSF).

In 2002 Thales set up the joint venture company Armaris with the French shipbuilder DCN. The new company will offer a total "bottom up" shipbuilding capability.

In 2003 Thales UK's design won the competition for the Royal Navy Future Carrier (CVF) and the company now participates in an alliance company with BAE Systems and the UK Ministry of Defence. This Thales design may form the basis of the Future French aircraft carrier which the company has agreed to build with DCN.

In 2004 Thales provided China with radio jamming technology and technical support. Although the contract was not specifically for the purpose of jamming foreign radio stations broadcasting to China, it now appears that this is what the ALLISS antennas are being used for. Template:Fact

In March, 2006 the top South Korean representative of Thales was arrested on charges of espionage. The employee allegedly stole classified documents related to defence. Template:Fact

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Alcatel deal

In April, 2006, Thales announced it would be acquiring Alcatel's space business (67% of Alcatel Alenia Space and 33% of Telespazio) in a deal which also raised Alcatel's ownership of Thales to 21.66 percent. The French government would also decrease its ownership in Thales to 27.1 percent from 31.3 percent as part of the acquisition.

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Korean affair

In March 2006, Bernard Favre d'Echallens, in Korea since 2000 as President and CEO of Thales Korea, is charged of spying Korean military secrets by a judge in Seoul. He should be judged in April and faces a 15 years sentence.

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Areas of business

The firm has operated in South Korea for 30 years and is currently in a bid to supply radars for new navy frigates.

Thales presence in the UK (largely as a result of the Racal acquisition) has resulted in several high profile contracts. The company is part of the Airtanker consortium, the winning bid for the RAF's Future Strategic Tanker Aircraft. Thales UK won the contract for the British Army UAV programme, Watchkeeper.

Thales is named after the Greek astronomer, and as such is correctly pronounced Template:IPA (THAY-leez). However, the French owners tend to prefer their pronunciation of Template:IPA (TA-luhs) or sometimes Template:IPA (TAR-luhs). Template:IPA notice