Royal Ordnance plc was formed on 2 January 1985 as a public corporation, owning the majority of what until then were the remaining United Kingdom government-owned Royal Ordnance Factories which manufa
View of the cleared ROF Chorley site. The explosive filling site was to the right of the railway; the area between the railway and the hedge was the site of ROF Chorley Halt; and to the right of the hedge is the former Headquarters building for ROF Chorley.
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational aerospace, arms and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is the largest defence contractor
Royal Ordnance
…tanks. It owned some 16 factories; and employed about 19,000 staff. Royal Ordnance plc was bought by British Aerospace (BAe) in April 1987, which became BAE Systems in 1999. The name Royal Ordnance was retained for almost another twenty years; and the sites retained their former names, either as Royal Ordnance or…
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.
The Astute-class submarine project caused BAE to issue a profit warning in 2002 and invest £250 million to overcome its difficulties.
BAE's £2.5 billion purchase of United Defense in 2005 added the M2/M3 Bradley family of armoured vehicles to its product line.
BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships built the Type 45 destroyer. Other subsidiaries of BAE supplied the naval gun and SAMPSON and S1850M radars for the class.