Editing Ferranti (section)

===Defence electronics===
[[File:Ferranti Mark IID gyroscopic gunsight mounted in a Supermarine Spitfire Mk IX of No. 127 Wing RAF at B2-Bazenville, Normandy, 17 August 1944. CL854.jpg|thumb|right|Spitfire gyro gunsight]]

During World War II, Ferranti became a major supplier of electronics, [[fuze]]s<!--'fuze' is appropriate - see [[Fuse (explosives)]]-->, [[vacuum tube|valves]], and was, through development of the [[Identification Friend or Foe]] (IFF) system, heavily involved in the early development of [[radar]] in the United Kingdom.<ref name=timeline/> In the post-war era, this became a large segment of the company, with various branches supplying radar sets, [[avionics]] and other military electronics, both in the UK and the various international offices.
In 1943, Ferranti opened a factory at [[Crewe Toll]] in Edinburgh to manufacture [[gyro gunsight]]s for the [[Supermarine Spitfire|Spitfire]] aircraft.<ref name=timeline/> After the war they set up [[Kenyon Taylor#Ferranti Scotland|Ferranti Research]] to complement this business which grew to employ 8,000 staff in 8 locations, becoming the birthplace of the Scottish [[electronics industry]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/written-answers/1951/jun/26/electronics-industry#S5CV0489P0_19510626_CWA_126|date=26 June 1951|title=Electronics Industry (Hansard, 26 June 1951)|website=[[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]}}</ref> and a major contributor to company profitability. Later products included solid state ring laser gyros.

From 1949, [[Ferranti-Packard]] assisted the Royal [[Canadian Navy]] develop [[DATAR]] (Digital Automated Tracking and Resolving). DATAR was a pioneering computerized battlefield information system that combined [[radar]] and [[sonar]] information to provide commanders with an "overall view" of a battlefield, allowing them to coordinate attacks on submarines and aircraft.<ref name=ieee>John Vardalas, "[http://ieee.ca/millennium/fp6000/fp6000_datar.html From DATAR To The FP-6000 Computer] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060116063849/http://ieee.ca/millennium/fp6000/fp6000_datar.html |date=16 January 2006 }}", ''IEEE Annals of the History of Computing'', Vol 16 No 2, 1994</ref>

In the 1950s, work focused on the development of airborne radar, with the company subsequently supplying radars to most of the UK's fast jet and helicopter fleets.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-000-128-889-C|title=Scran Web Site|website=Scran}}</ref> Today the Crewe Toll site (now part of [[Leonardo S.p.A.]]) leads the consortium providing the [[Euroradar CAPTOR]] radar for the [[Eurofighter Typhoon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eurofighter.com/news-and-events/2009/04/the-first-asta-simulator-for-the-eurofighter-typhoon-operational |title=Eurofighter Typhoon &#124; the first ASTA Simulator for the Eurofighter Typhoon Operational |access-date=2015-04-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413120617/http://www.eurofighter.com/news-and-events/2009/04/the-first-asta-simulator-for-the-eurofighter-typhoon-operational |archive-date=13 April 2015 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

In the 1960s and 1970s, inertial navigation systems became an important product line for the company with systems designed for fast jet (Harrier, Phantom, Tornado), space and land applications.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://prism.ucalgary.ca/handle/1880/23674|title=The Ferranti Inertial Land Surveying System (FILS) as part of an integrated navigation and positioning system|first=John E.|last=Hagglund|date=19 November 1987|publisher=Engineering|doi=10.11575/PRISM/15052 |isbn=9780315359819 |via=dspace.ucalgary.ca}}</ref> The electro-mechanical inertial navigation systems were constructed at the Silverknowes site in [[Edinburgh]]. In addition to their other military and civil applications, they were used in the ESA [[Ariane 4]] and first [[Ariane 5]] launches. Ferranti also produced the PADS (Position and Azimuth Determining System), an inertial navigation system which could be mounted in a vehicle and was used by the British Army.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2gB7w9XlNJAC&q=Ferranti+Position+and+Azimuth+Determining+System&pg=PA302|title=The Surveying Handbook|first1=Russell Charles|last1=Brinker|first2=Roy|last2=Minnick|date=19 November 1995|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780412985119|via=Google Books}}</ref>

With the invention of the laser in the 1960s, the company quickly established itself in the electro-optics arena. From the early 1970s, it was delivering the ''Laser Rangefinder and Marked Target Seeker'' (LRMTS) for the Jaguar and Harrier fleets, and later for Tornado.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vectorsite.net/twbomb_12.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206192256/http://www.vectorsite.net/twbomb_12.html|url-status=usurped|archive-date=6 February 2007|title=Vectorsite.net}}</ref> It supplied the world's first man-portable laser rangefinder/designator ([[Laser designator|Laser Target Marker]], or LTM) to the British Army in 1974,<ref>{{cite journal |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Lasers on beam. |url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1975/1975%20-%200157.html |format=PDF|journal=[[Flight International (magazine)|Flight International]]|date=23 January 1975 |access-date= 7 April 2015}}</ref> and had notable successes in the US market, establishing Ferranti Electro-optics Inc in [[Huntington Beach, California]].  Its [[TIALD]] Pod (Thermal Imaging Airborne Laser Designator) has been in almost constant combat operation on the [[Panavia Tornado|Tornado]] since it was rushed into service during the first Gulf War.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/lit/25321.shtml|title=TIALD: The Gulf War GEC Ferranti|access-date=13 December 2008|archive-date=16 December 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171216201538/http://www.antiqbook.co.uk/boox/lit/25321.shtml|url-status=dead}}</ref>

From the 1960s through to the late 1980s, the Bristol Ferranti [[Bloodhound SAM]], for which Ferranti developed radar systems, was a key money earner.
In 1970, Ferranti became involved in the sonar field through its involvement with Plessey in a new series of sonars, for which it designed and built the computer subsystems.  This work later expanded when it won a contract for the complete Sonar 2050. The work was originally carried out at the Wythenshawe factory and then at Cheadle Heath. Takeovers of other companies gave it expertise in sonar arrays. This business later became [[Ferranti Thomson Sonar Systems]].<ref name="Friedman2006">{{cite book|author=Norman Friedman|title=The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4S3h8j_NEmkC|year=2006|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-1-55750-262-9}}</ref>

The selection of the radar for the project that became the Eurofighter Typhoon became a major international issue in the early 1990s.  Britain, Italy, and Spain supported the Ferranti-led [[ECR-90]], while Germany preferred the MSD2000 (a collaboration between [[Hughes Aircraft|Hughes]], AEG and GEC).  An agreement was reached after UK Defence Secretary [[Tom King, Baron King of Bridgwater|Tom King]] assured his German counterpart [[Gerhard Stoltenberg]] that the British government would underwrite the project and allow [[General Electric Company plc|GEC]] to acquire Ferranti Defence Systems from its troubled parent.<ref>{{cite news | first = Charles  | last = Miller | title = Radar Deal Keeps Britain in Forefront of Airborne Technology | publisher = The Press Association Ltd.| date = 1990-05-08}}</ref> Hughes sued GEC for $600 million for its role in the selection of the EFA and alleged that it used Hughes technology in the ECR-90 when it took over Ferranti.  It later dropped this allegation and was awarded $23 million; the court judged that the MSD-2000 "had a real or substantial chance of succeeding had GEC not tortuously intervened&nbsp;... and had the companies, which were bound by the Collaboration Agreement, faithfully and diligently performed their continuing obligations thereunder to press and promote the case for MSD-2000."<ref>{{cite news | title=Court finds GEC 'intervened' on behalf of onetime EFA rival Ferranti | work = Aerospace Daily | publisher = McGraw-Hill Inc. | page = 398 | date = 1994-03-15}}</ref>

[[File:Ferranti All-Wave Superhet 1937.jpg|thumb|Ferranti 837 All-Wave Superhet radio (1937), made of [[Bakelite]]|alt=]]
[[File:Ferranti Model 255 vacuum tube radio, 1956 (24826639262).jpg|thumb|Ferranti radio]]