aerospace and defence company . for other uses see bae disambiguation . coordinates 51 16 25 n 0 46 00 w 51.27361 n 0.76667 w 51.27361 ; 0.76667 bae systems plc type public limited company traded as lse ba . industry aerospace defence information security predecessors british aerospace marconi electronic systems founded november 30 1999 ; 16 years ago 1999 11 30 headquarters london 1 & farnborough 2 uk area served worldwide key people sir roger carr chairman ian king ceo products civil and military aerospace defence electronics naval vessels munitions land warfare systems services maintenance consultancy training etc. revenue 17.904 billion 2015 3 operating income 1.502 billion 2015 3 profit 0.943 billion 2015 3 total assets 29.6 billion 2016 4 number of employees 84 600 2015 5 divisions see below subsidiaries bae systems inc. bae systems australia bae systems detica website baesystems.com bae systems plc is a british multinational defence security and aerospace company . its headquarters are in london in the united kingdom and it has operations worldwide . it is among the world s largest defence contractors ; it was ranked as the second largest based on applicable 2012 revenues . 6 its largest operations are in the united kingdom and 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 merger 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 . bae systems is the successor to various aircraft shipbuilding armoured vehicle armaments and defence electronics companies including the marconi company the first commercial company devoted to the development and use of radio ; a.v. roe and company one of the world s first aircraft companies ; de havilland manufacturer of the comet the world s first commercial jet airliner ; british aircraft corporation co manufacturer of the concorde supersonic transport ; supermarine manufacturer of the spitfire ; yarrow shipbuilders builder of the royal navy s first destroyers ; fairfield shipbuilding and engineering company pioneer of the triple expansion engine and builder of the world s first battlecruiser ; and vickers shipbuilding and engineering builder of the royal navy s first submarines . since its formation it has made a number of acquisitions most notably of united defense and armor holdings of the united states and sold its shares in airbus astrium ams and atlas elektronik . bae systems is involved in several major defence projects including the lockheed martin f 35 lightning ii the eurofighter typhoon the astute class submarine and the queen elizabeth class aircraft carriers . bae systems is listed on the london stock exchange and is a constituent of the ftse 100 index . contents 1 history 1.1 heritage 1.2 formation 1.3 2000s 1.3.1 airbus shareholding 1.4 2010s 2 products 3 areas of business 3.1 united kingdom 3.2 united states 3.3 rest of the world 4 shareholders 5 organisation 6 corporate governance 7 financial information 8 corruption investigations 8.1 serious fraud office 8.2 saudi arabia 8.3 others 9 criticism 9.1 espionage 9.2 nuclear weapons 9.3 cluster bombs and land mines 9.4 saudi war crimes in yemen 10 see also 11 references 12 further reading 13 external links history edit heritage edit supermarine the manufacturer of the spitfire was a predecessor company of bae systems . it was purchased by vickers armstrongs which itself was merged into the british aircraft corporation in 1960 . bae systems was formed on 30 november 1999 by the 7.7 billion merger of british aerospace bae and marconi electronic systems mes . 7 as a result bae systems is the successor to many of the most famous british aircraft defence electronics and warship manufacturers . predecessor companies built the comet the world s first commercial jet airliner ; the harrier jump jet the world s first operational vertical short take off and landing vtol aircraft ; the groundbreaking 8 blue vixen radar carried by sea harrier fa2s and which formed the basis of the eurofighter s captor radar ; and co produced the iconic concorde supersonic airliner with a rospatiale . british aerospace was a civil and military aircraft manufacturer as well as a provider of military land systems . the company had emerged from the massive consolidation of uk aircraft manufacturers since world war ii . british aerospace was formed on 29 april 1977 by the nationalisation and merger of the british aircraft corporation bac the hawker siddeley group and scottish aviation . 9 both bac and hawker siddeley were themselves the result of various mergers and acquisitions . 10 marconi electronic systems was the defence subsidiary of british engineering firm the general electric company gec dealing largely in military systems integration as well as naval and land systems . marconi s heritage dates back to guglielmo marconi s wireless telegraph & signal company founded in 1897 . 11 gec purchased english electric which included marconi in 1968 and thereafter used the marconi brand for its defence businesses as gec marconi and later marconi electronic systems . gec s own defence heritage dates back to world war i when its contribution to the war effort included radios and bulbs . world war ii consolidated this position as the company was involved in important technological advances notably the cavity magnetron for radar . 12 between 1945 and 1999 gec marconi marconi electronic systems became one of the world s most important defence contractors . gec s major defence related acquisitions included associated electrical industries in 1967 13 yarrow shipbuilders in 1985 13 plessey companies in 1989 14 parts of ferranti s defence business in 1990 14 the rump of ferranti when it went into receivership in 1993 1994 vickers shipbuilding and engineering in 1995 15 and kv rner govan in 1999 . 16 in june 1998 mes acquired tracor a major american defence contractor for 830 million approx . us 1.4 billion c. 1998 . 17 v t e timeline of british aerospace companies since 1955 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 short brothers and harland ltd. short brothers ltd. short brothers plc 7 handley page f. g. miles beagle aircraft 1 auster scottish aviation 2 british aerospace bae bae systems blackburn hawker siddeley aviation hawker siddeley dynamics avro de havilland folland hawker siddeley 3 vickers armstrongs british aircraft corporation bac 5 english electric 4 bristol hunting the general electric company gec the marconi company gec marconi marconi electronic systems the english electric company 6 marconi plc government owned from 1966 to liquidation purchased rights for various beagle and handley page designs from the liquidator . comprising hawker aircraft gloster aircraft company and armstrong whitworth aircraft . english electric aircraft a subsidiary of the english electric company . bac comprised the aviation interests of the companies that formed it and wholly owned hunting aircraft . gec purchased ee and with it the marconi company and ee s shareholding in bac through its subsidiary ee aircraft . part of bombardier inc. modern timeline of british shipbuilding companies 1960 present 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 hawthorn leslie & company caledon sh b. & eng . co. robb caledon shipbuilding henry robb harland and wolff harland & wolff heavy industries ailsa shipbuilding company ferguson ailsa ailsa & perth ferguson brothers ferguson shipbuilders lithgows scott lithgow scott lithgow scotts sh b. & eng . co. greenock dockyard co. swan hunter & wigham richardson swan hunter group swan hunter smiths dock co. john readhead & sons hall russell & co. hall russell a & p austin & pickersgill north east shipbuilders ltd. a & p appledore international a & p group william doxford & sons appledore shipbuilders dml appledore babcock marine appledore cammell laird & company vsel coastline cammell laird a & p shiprepair nwsl clss vickers armstrongs vickers ltd. shipbuilding marconi marine vsel bae systems marine bae sub . solutions yarrow & co. y w. sh b. ltd. upper clyde shipbuilders ysl marconi marine ysl bae surf . flt . solutions bvt surface fleet bae systems surface ships fairfield sh b. & eng . co. govan sh b. kvaerner govan charles connell & company scotstoun marine john brown & company marathon clydebank uie scotland alexander stephens & sons w. denny & bros. a. & j. inglis simons & lobnitz barclay curle j. i. thornycroft & co. vosper thornycroft vosper thornycroft vt group vosper & co. british hovercraft corporation hoverwork ltd. griffon hoverwork griffon hovercraft ltd. 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s bsc british shipbuilders corporation formation edit the 1997 merger of american corporations boeing and mcdonnell douglas which followed the forming of lockheed martin the world s largest defence contractor in 1995 increased the pressure on european defence companies to consolidate . in june 1997 british aerospace defence managing director john weston commented europe ... is supporting three times the number of contractors on less than half the budget of the u.s. . 18 european governments wished to see the merger of their defence manufacturers into a single entity a european aerospace and defence company . 19 as early as 1995 british aerospace and the german aerospace and defence company daimlerchrysler aerospace dasa were said to be keen to create a transnational aerospace and defence company . 20 the two companies envisaged including a rospatiale the other major european aerospace company but only after its privatisation . 21 the first stage of this integration was seen as the transformation of airbus from a consortium of british aerospace dasa a rospatiale and construcciones aeron uticas sa into an integrated company ; in this aim british aerospace and dasa were united against the various objections of a rospatiale . 22 as well as airbus british aerospace and dasa were partners in the panavia tornado and eurofighter typhoon aircraft projects . merger discussions began between british aerospace and dasa in july 1998 just as french participation became more likely with the announcement that a rospatiale was to merge with matra and emerge with a diluted french government shareholding . 23 a merger was agreed between british aerospace chairman richard evans and dasa ceo j rgen schrempp in december 1998 . 24 meanwhile gec was also under pressure to participate in defence industry consolidation . reporting the appointment of george simpson as gec managing director in 1996 the independent had said some analysts believe that mr simpson s inside knowledge of bae a long rumoured gec bid target was a key to his appointment . gec favours forging a national champion defence group with bae to compete with the giant us organisations . 25 when gec put mes up for sale on 22 december 1998 british aerospace abandoned the dasa merger in favour of purchasing its british rival . the merger of british aerospace and mes was announced on 19 january 1999 . 26 evans stated that in 2004 that his fear was