Thales Air Defence Limited (TADL), formerly Shorts Missile Systems (SMS), is a defence contractor based in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

, producing short range air defence

missile In military terminology, a missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously unguided rocket ...

s. Shorts Missile Systems was established as a joint venture between Shorts' owners Bombardier and

Thomson-CSF Thomson-CSF was a French company that specialized in the development and manufacture of electronics with a heavy focus upon the aerospace and defence sectors of the market. Thomson-CSF was formed in 1968 following the merger of Thomson-Houst ...

in 1993. In 2000 Thomson-CSF became the sole owner. In the same year Thomson-CSF was renamed

Thales Group Thales Group () is a French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors. The company is headquartered in Pari ...

and in 2001 Shorts Missile Systems was renamed Thales Air Defence Limited. TADL products have been deployed by 56 armed forces around the world. The company employs around 492 people in Northern Ireland. The company also operates a remote facility in rural

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to th ...

, between Ballynahinch and

Downpatrick Downpatrick () is a town in County Down, Northern Ireland. It is on the Lecale peninsula, about south of Belfast. In the Middle Ages, it was the capital of the Dál Fiatach, the main ruling dynasty of Ulaid. Its cathedral is said to be the b ...

, where missiles are tested and stored.

History

Short Brothers Short Brothers plc, usually referred to as Shorts or Short, is an aerospace company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Shorts was founded in 1908 in London, and was the first company in the world to make production aeroplanes. It was particu ...

' missile division was formed in 1952. In 1993, this became Shorts Missile Systems (SMS) a joint venture between Shorts' owners Bombardier and

. In 2000 Thomson-CSF bought Bombardier's 50% share to become the sole owner. In the same year Thomson-CSF was renamed

; consequently in 2001 Shorts Missile Systems was renamed Thales Air Defence Limited. The then Shorts Missile Systems was a partner in

Raytheon Company The Raytheon Company was a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. It was previously involved in corporate and special-mission aircraft unti ...

's Future Medium Range Air-Air Missile ( FMRAAM) project, which was to replace the

AIM-120 AMRAAM The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile, or AMRAAM (pronounced ), is an American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile (BVRAAM) capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It is 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter, and employ ...

missile used by European air forces. In May 2000 the UK selected the MBDA Meteor to fulfil the requirement.

Products

NLAW The Saab Bofors Dynamics NLAW (pronounced: ''"N-LAW"'', ), also known as the MBT LAW or RB 57, is a fire-and-forget, lightweight shoulder-fired, and disposable (single-use) line of sight (LOS) missile system, designed for infantry use. The ...

: The NLAW is a lightweight anti-tank guided missile system that is assembled by Thales. *

Javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with the ...

: Javelin is a man-portable surface-to-air missile and is being replaced by Starstreak. *

Starstreak Starstreak is a British short-range surface to air missile that can be used as a man-portable air-defence system (MANPADS) or in heavier systems, manufactured by Thales Air Defence (formerly Shorts Missile Systems), in Belfast, Northern Ireland. ...

:A High Velocity Missile (HVM) used in the air defence role. Used in many roles with man-portable,

attack helicopter An attack helicopter is an armed helicopter with the primary role of an attack aircraft, with the offensive capability of engaging ground targets such as enemy infantry, military vehicles and fortifications. Due to their heavy armament they ...

and vehicle mounted variants. * Hellfire : Built by Thales under licence from the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

for the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

. Hellfire is designed to defeat tanks and other individual targets while minimizing the exposure of the launch vehicle to enemy fire. *

Lightweight Multirole Missile Martlet is a lightweight air-to-surface, surface-to-air, and surface-to-surface missile developed by Thales Air Defence for the United Kingdom. It is named after a mythical bird from English heraldry that never roosts, the martlet. Developed ...

(LMM) - :Ordered by the MoD as the FASGW(L) missile on 5 April 2011 to be operated by the Royal Navy's new Lynx Wildcat helicopter. Thales

Historical

* Blowpipe *

Starburst MicroPro International Corporation was an American software company founded in 1978 in San Rafael, California. They are best known as the publisher of WordStar, a popular early word processor for personal computers. History Founding and early su ...

References

{{Authority control 1993 establishments in Northern Ireland Aerospace companies of Northern Ireland Defence companies of the United Kingdom Guided missile manufacturers Manufacturing companies established in 1993 Thales Group divisions and subsidiaries Companies based in Belfast

History

Products

Historical

See also

References