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Industry | software |
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Founded | 1979 |
Headquarters |
CAP Scientific Ltd was a British defence software company, and was part of CAP (Computer Analysts and Programmers) Group plc. In 1988, CAP Group merged with the French firm Sema-Metra SA in 1988 as Sema Group plc. [1] [2] In 1991 Sema Group put most of its defence operations (CAP Scientific Ltd and YARD Ltd) into joint venture with British Aerospace called BAeSEMA, which British Aerospace bought out in 1998. [3] Parts of the former CAP Scientific are now BAE Systems (Insyte).
CAP Scientific was formed in 1979 by four colleagues who had previously worked in Scicon, a BP subsidiary.[ citation needed ] Seeking to start a specialist software company for defence applications in the United Kingdom, they approached CAP-CPP, a commercial software house, to back a start-up operation.
By 1985, CAP Scientific had established significant work in several areas. It had a strong naval business based on supporting the Admiralty Research Establishment. This Maritime Technology business applied the technologies fostered in research contracts on major development programmes.[ citation needed ] CAP worked with Vosper Thornycroft Controls to develop machinery control and surveillance systems for the Royal Navy's new generation ships and submarines.
An associated Naval Command Systems business had built a strong Action Information Organisation design team, working with both surface and submarine fleets, and a Land Air Systems business also took research and development contracts and was prime contractor for the British Army's Brigade and Battlegroup Trainer (BBGT). The non-defence scientific sector was addressed by setting a Scientific Systems business with expertise in energy generation and conservation. In that year, CAP Scientific established the Centre for Operational Research and Defence Analysis (CORDA) as an independent unit to provide impartial assistance for investment appraisal.
At that time military computer systems were purpose-built by major contractors, and CAP Scientific's strategy was to form joint ventures with companies which had market access but could not afford the investment to move into the new technology of microprocessors and distributed systems.
In its early years, CAP Scientific took time to establish itself, but in 1982 there came a breakthrough. While the UK was mustering its naval taskforce for the Falklands War, it became clear that for some purposes the Royal Navy needed more computational power. An Urgent Operational Requirement was raised to provide improved fire control solutions for RN Sub-Harpoon. Working in frantic haste, CAP's engineers were able to add an experimental Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-8 installation into a Royal Navy submarine before she sailed to the South Atlantic. This was one of the first examples of commercial off-the-shelf equipment being employed for military use. The success of this experimental deployment led to the development of a standard RN submarine fit, DCG, which allowed extra processing power to be added to submarine command systems. [4]
By its prompt response to the needs of the Falklands War, CAP Scientific demonstrated its ability to supply naval computer technology. With the decision to build the new Vanguard-class submarine to carry the Trident missile system, the UK Ministry of Defence proceeded for the first time to run an open competition for the command system. In 1983, CAP Scientific teamed with Gresham-Lion, a British manufacturer of torpedo launch control equipment and now part of Ultra Electronics plc, to form a special purpose company, Gresham-CAP Ltd, to bid for the system. Up to that point all RN ships and submarines had command systems built by Ferranti using custom-built electronics. Gresham-CAP offered a novel distributed processing system based on commercial off-the-shelf components and utilising a modular software architecture largely written in the Ada programming language. The Gresham-CAP consortium won the bid, and their solution, known as Submarine Command System (SMCS) became the basis for subsequent products from the company.
The choice of Intel 80386 processors and MultiBus, when many competing chips were available and the PC had only recently reached the market, showed foresight as the basic architecture remains in service today on RN submarines. (The choice of an array of INMOS Transputer chips to process sonar tracking data was less successful - whilst they did the job, the lack of long term support / future product line meant they have been phased out once general purpose processors were able to fulfill the role.)
The impact of this still-young company displacing one of the great names of British electronics in the Royal Navy shocked the industry and can be seen as one of the first open competitions in modern British defence procurement and followed a long post-war period of 'preferred contractor' policies.
The founders of CAP Scientific sold their complete shareholding to CAP-CPP, which subsequently listed on the London Stock Exchange as CAP Group plc. In June 1986, the Group acquired YARD (Yarrow-Admiralty Research Department) Ltd, a marine engineering consultancy, formerly part of Yarrow Shipbuilders, based in Glasgow.
The Falklands War prompted a further competition in British naval equipment supply when an analysis of the loss of HMS Sheffield showed that improvements were necessary in surface ship combat systems. A contract for the command system for the navy's new Type 23 frigates was cancelled and put out to competition, and after a long campaign was awarded to the CAP and Gresham consortium, teamed with Racal Electronics. The consortium developed the architecture of SMCS to create a derivative distributed system known internally as Surface-Ship Command System (SSCS). By now Gresham-Lion was under Dowty ownership and CAP Group had merged with the French company SEMA-METRA SA to form Sema Group plc.
The Type 23 command system proved to be a step too far for Sema Scientific, as it was now called. The enormous fixed-price contract overran, causing problems for both Sema and Dowty. Dowty was taken over by TI Group, who sold their interests in Dowty-Sema back to Sema Group for £1. Sema Group invited British Aerospace in as a co-investor in the business, and the activities which once formed CAP Scientific, Gresham-CAP and YARD, together with some BAe interests were merged in 1991 into a new entity, BAeSEMA. Ultimately, BAe purchased Sema Group's interest in BAeSEMA. Ironically, with the BAe/Marconi Electronic Systems merger to form BAE Systems in 1999, the CAP Scientific business found itself under the same parent as its erstwhile competitor Ferranti.
British Aerospace plc (BAe) was a British aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer that was formed in 1977. Its head office was at Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire. It purchased Marconi Electronic Systems, the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company, in 1999 to form BAE Systems.
Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renamed itself Marconi plc.
The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering.
The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, HMS Norfolk, was commissioned in 1989, and the sixteenth, HMS St Albans was commissioned in June 2002. They form the core of the Royal Navy's destroyer and frigate fleet and serve alongside the Type 45 destroyers. They were designed for anti-submarine warfare, but have been used for a range of uses. Nine Type 23 frigates remain in service with the Royal Navy, with three vessels having been sold to the Chilean Navy and four being retired since 2021.
BAE Systems plc is a British multinational aerospace, defence and information security company, based in London, England. It is the biggest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe and the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. Its largest operations are in the United Kingdom and in the United States, where its BAE Systems Inc. subsidiary is one of the six largest suppliers to the US Department of Defense. Its next biggest markets are Saudi Arabia, then Australia; other major markets include Canada, Japan, India, Turkey, Qatar, Oman and Sweden. The company was formed on 30 November 1999 by the £7.7 billion purchase of and merger of Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), the defence electronics and naval shipbuilding subsidiary of the General Electric Company plc (GEC), with British Aerospace, an aircraft, munitions and naval systems manufacturer.
Ferranti or Ferranti International PLC was a UK electrical engineering and equipment firm that operated for over a century from 1885 until it went bankrupt in 1993. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
The Marconi Company was a British telecommunications and engineering company that did business under that name from 1963 to 1987. Its roots were in the Wireless Telegraph & Signal Company founded by Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi in 1897, which underwent several changes in name after mergers and acquisitions. The company was a pioneer of wireless long distance communication and mass media broadcasting, eventually becoming one of the UK's most successful manufacturing companies. In 1999, its defence equipment manufacturing division, Marconi Electronic Systems, merged with British Aerospace (BAe) to form BAE Systems. In 2006, financial difficulties led to the collapse of the remaining company, with the bulk of the business acquired by the Swedish telecommunications company, Ericsson.
Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also operated the nearby Govan shipyard since 1999.
Thales Underwater Systems or TUS is a subsidiary of the French defense electronics specialist Thales Group. It was created in 2001 and belongs to its naval division. It specializes in the development and manufacturing of sonar systems for submarines, surface warships and aircraft, as well as communications masts and systems for submarines. Its headquarters are located in Sophia Antipolis, France.
BAeSEMA was a naval technology joint venture between British Aerospace and the French Sema Group. The company was formed in 1991 and dissolved in November 1998 when BAe purchased SEMA's 50% share.
BAE Systems Avionics was the avionics unit of BAE Systems until 2005, at which time it was transferred to SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems S.p.A.. Selex S&AS became SELEX Galileo in 2008 and from January 2013 traded as Selex ES. It then merged into Leonardo S.p.A.'s land and naval defence electronics division on 1 January 2016.
BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, advanced precision strike munitions and ordnance, and other technologies for U.S. and international customers.
BAE Systems Australia, a subsidiary of BAE Systems plc, is one of the largest defence contractors in Australia. It was formed by the merger of British Aerospace Australia and GEC-Marconi Systems and expanded by the acquisitions of Armor Holdings in 2007 and Tenix Defence in June 2008.
SMCS, the Submarine Command System, was first created for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom's Vanguard-class submarines as a tactical information system and a torpedo weapon control system. Versions have now also been installed on all active Royal Navy submarine classes.
Sema Group plc was an Anglo-French IT services company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Schlumberger in 2001.
Ultra Electronics Holdings is a British defence and security company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index until it was acquired by Cobham, which is itself owned by Advent International.
CAP Group was a British software house. Computer Analysts and Programmers Ltd (CAP) was founded in May 1962 and grew to be one of the foremost IT companies in the UK before merging with French company Sema-Metra in 1988 to form Sema Group.
TI Group plc was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire and was listed on the London Stock Exchange, at one point being a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Dowty Group was a leading British manufacturer of aircraft equipment. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The firm ceased operating as an individual entity following its acquisition by TI Group in 1992.
CORDA is a small analysis and management consultancy company, owned by BAE Systems and based in Farnborough. It provides evidence-based decision support to BAE Systems, government departments, and other commercial organisations. "CORDA's key capability lies in the integration of scientific, technical, and financial skills with military expertise across all domains, to provide a packaged, one-stop analysis service, focussed at the concept and assessment phase of the defence lifecycle."
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