Thales Nederland

History

The company was founded in 1922 in the city of the Hengelo, in the Netherlands as NV Hazemeyer's Fabriek van Signaalapparaten by Hazemeyer and Siemens & Halske. Initially specialising in the development of naval fire-control systems, the company was established in the Netherlands as a means of getting around the restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles on Germany; there was a specific stipulation forbidding any German company from manufacturing military equipment. The first major contract to be secured by the company was for the production of the fire control systems of the HNLMS Sumatra and HNLMS Java, two of the Royal Netherlands Navy's Java-class light cruisers. Throughout the interwar period, the firm expanded rapidly, gaining customers in overseas nations such as Sweden, Spain and Greece.

In May 1940, amid the turbulent world events of the Second World War, the company's factory was captured virtually intact by the German Army, having invaded the country during the Battle of the Netherlands. A high proportion of the firm's employee were able to escape to the United Kingdom, where many applied their expertise with radar and fire control systems on behalf of the Allies. Following the Liberation of the Netherlands and the end of the conflict, most chose to return to the country; the factory itself having been pillaged and left derelict by the Germans.

In the immediate postwar years, the Dutch government, being aware of the company's value as a part of its wider defence industry, decided to intervene, nationalising the company along with its remaining assets, after which it operated under the name N.V. Hollandsche Signaalapparaten (or Signaal for short). During the late 1940s, replacement buildings and facilities were erected and new staff was recruited. In this period of reestablishment, several valuable technologies and new systems were developed in fields such as radar, fire control systems, computers and air traffic control apparatus.

In 1956, a large portion of shares in the company were purchased from the Dutch government by the Netherlands-based electronics company Philips, making it the majority owner of Signaal. Over the following decades, the business developed various new product lines. In 1975, Signaal began development of what would become the Goalkeeper CIWS, an autonomous short-range defensive weapon system; it would develop and produce the Goalkeeper for over five decades. In the latter part of the 1980s, another defense subsidiary of Philips, named Usfa, was partially merged with Signaal, becoming known as Signaal USFA.

Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, the firm continued to expand, opening up multiple factories across the Netherlands. By the end of the Cold War, Signaal had expanded to the point where it had customers in 35 countries and in excess of 5,000 employees. However, the Cold War's demise had led to hefty cuts in many nation's defence budgets, which had in turn caused a downturn in customer demand for Signaal, compelling the company to reorganise itself and to reduce its level of staffing.