BAE SYSTEMS is a multinational defence products manufacturer.

It was formed on November 30, 1999 with the merger of British Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems, which was made up of several divisions of GEC-Marconi in the UK and overseas.

It is a systems company innovating for a safer world and delivering total solutions to customer requirements, from the outermost reaches of space to the depths of the oceans. BAE SYSTEMS has international markets around the globe producing annual sales of some £12 billion. Including joint ventures, BAE SYSTEMS employs world-wide more than 90,000 people, committed to delivering outstanding capability to customers through the quality technology, the robustness processes and the innovation of its people.

Its prime contracting capability combines key in-depth skills in systems, defence and aerospace, enabling it to manage the most complex high-level systems tasks and provide total solutions - a one-stop shop capability and service provision.

BAE SYSTEMS designs, manufactures, and supports military aircraft, surface ships, submarines, space systems, radar, avionics, C4ISR, electronic systems, guided weapons and a range of other defence products, many of these with international partners. Key skills include systems integration, complex software and hardware development and advanced manufacturing.

In aviation, the company takes a leading role in joint programmes for military and civil aircraft such as Eurofighter, Joint Strike Fighter and Airbus in partnership with the world's other leading aircraft companies. For the world's navies it offers a leading ship design capability, building frigates, submarines and aircraft carriers, as well as radar, missiles, C4ISR systems and torpedoes. It is the prime contractor for the U.K. Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers, the new Type 45 destroyers and the Astute class nuclear-powered attack submarine. On land, in the new digitised battlespace, company systems include radar, C4ISR networks, artillery, guided weapons and electro-optics. In space, the company has a wide range of expertise and technology in high-quality image exploitation and archiving systems for stereo photogrammetry, photointerpretation, and mapping, charting and geodesy (MC&G) applications. The company also develops, integrates, and produces test equipment for advanced electronic systems including space launch, satellites, and provides avionics systems for the Atlas and Titan launch vehicles. The company's research and development projects cover the spectrum of technologies, materials and synthetic environments, such as virtual reality and 3D modelling, that constantly extend the frontiers of performance. The high software content of the company's advanced systems means that software development is a key activity that involves more than 10,000 systems software engineers.