Racal

Racal Electronics plc

Company type	Public limited company
Industry	Electronics
Founded	1950; 74 years ago (1950) (as Racal Ltd.)
Founder	Raymond Brown George Calder Cunningham
Defunct	2000
Fate	Acquired by Thomson-CSF
Successor	Thales plc
Headquarters	Weybridge, United Kingdom
Key people	Sir Ernest Harrison OBE (chairman)

Racal Electronics plc was a British electronics company that was founded in 1950.

Listed on the London Stock Exchange and once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, Racal was a diversified company, offering products including voice recorders and data recorders, point of sale terminals, laboratory instruments and military electronics, including radio and radar. At its height it was the third largest British electronics firm; it operated throughout 110 countries worldwide and employed over 30,000 people. It was the parent company of Vodafone, before the mobile telephony provider was sold in 1991.

Racal was purchased by Thomson-CSF (now Thales Group) in 2000,^[1] thereby giving the French firm access to the UK defence and armaments market.

In 2001, Racal Instruments, Inc. became an independent company after a leveraged buyout from Thales.

In 2004, Racal Instruments, Inc. was acquired by EADS North America Defense and Test Services, Inc., which was then acquired by Astronics Corporation in 2014. The Racal brand now resides with Astronics Test Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Astronics Corporation.