Thomson Marconi Sonar was formed as Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems (FTSS) in 1990 by the merger of the sonar

Sonar

Sonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels...

 systems businesses of Thomson-CSF

Thomson-CSF

Thomson-CSF was a major electronics and defence contractor. In December 2000 it was renamed Thales Group.-History:In 1879 Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston formed the Thomson-Houston Electric Company in the United States....

 and Ferranti

Ferranti

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. Known primarily for defence electronics, the Company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but ceased trading in 1993.The...

. The head office of FTSS was at Cheadle Heath

Cheadle Heath

Cheadle Heath is a suburban area of Stockport, part of the wider Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, in Greater Manchester, England. It is approximately west of Stockport's town centre and southeast of the city of Manchester....

, Stockport

Stockport

Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies on elevated ground southeast of Manchester city centre, at the point where the rivers Goyt and Tame join and create the River Mersey. Stockport is the largest settlement in the metropolitan borough of the same name...

, with subsidiary sites in Church Crookham

Church Crookham

Church Crookham is a suburb, village and civil parish on the southern edge of the town of Fleet, in north east Hampshire, England, located south west of London...

, Hampshire, Weymouth, Dorset and Bridlington

Bridlington

Bridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season...

, Yorkshire.

GEC acquired Ferranti's share of the business in 1995 to form Thomson Marconi Sonar.

With the merger of GEC's defence business Marconi Electronic Systems

Marconi Electronic Systems

Marconi Electronic Systems , or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of The General Electric Company . It was demerged from GEC and acquired by British Aerospace on November 30, 1999 to form BAE Systems...

 and British Aerospace

British Aerospace

British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...

 in 1999, the resulting BAE Systems

BAE Systems

BAE Systems plc is a British multinational defence, security and aerospace company headquartered in London, United Kingdom, that has global interests, particularly in North America through its subsidiary BAE Systems Inc. BAE is among the world's largest military contractors; in 2009 it was the...

 acquired Marconi's 49.9% share in TMS. BAE (through an options agreement) forced Thomson, renamed Thales

Thales Group

The Thales Group is a French electronics company delivering information systems and services for the aerospace, defense, transportation and security markets...

, to purchase its stake in 2001. The company was renamed Thales Underwater Systems

Thales Underwater Systems

Thales Underwater Systems , formerly known as Thomson Marconi Sonar, is an international defence manufacturer specialising in sonar systems for submarines, surface warships, and aircraft as well as communications masts and systems for submarines. TUS is a subsidiary of Thales Naval, part of the...

.

Products

• Submarine sonar and surface ship sonar
• Minehunter sonar
• Airborne acoustic processors and dipping sonars (helicopter applications)
• Sonar support systems and trainers
• Communication systems