Tracor was a major North American defense electronics contractor which was acquired by Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), a subsidiary of General Electric Company plc, in 1998. Following the purchase of MES by British Aerospace in November 1999 to form BAE Systems, Tracor became BAE Systems Integrated Defense Solutions. Following a 2005 reorganisation, the company became BAE Systems Sensor Integration, part of Electronics and Integrated Solutions. History Tracor was founded in 1954 as Associated Consultants and Engineers. Tracor was the brainchild of physicist Richard N. Lane, its first president. He recruited Frank W. McBee, Dr. Chester McKinney, and Jess Stanbrough as its founders, and these four added an attorney friend, Harry Pollard, and machinist Byron Grisham, Jr. Early contracts included sales to Union Carbide and the United States Navy. The company's early focus on research and development soon expanded to the manufacture of instruments and components. In 1960 the company was renamed Texas Research Associates and in 1962 merged with Textran Corporation (formed by physicist O. J. Baltzer, mechanical engineer Marcel Gres, mathematician Gene Smith, and accountant George Strandtmann) to become Tracor. Dr. D. Van Holliday was one of Tracor's founding employees In 1976, Tracor became the first Austin, Texas, based company on the New York Stock Exchange. In 1981, Tracor created Rokar International in Jerusalem, Israel for the development of advanced electronics for military and commercial applications. Tracor was acquired by Westmark Systems in 1986. Westmark was soon in financial difficulties partly because the $866 million deal was highly leveraged but also due to a collapse in oil prices. Westmark filed for bankruptcy protection in 1989 and in 1991 Tracor was split from the company. In 1993, Tracor increased its size dramatically with the acquisition of Vitro Corporation from Penn Central Transportation Company for $94 million. In 1994, Tracor purchased GDE Systems Inc. from the Carlyle Group. (GDE Systems was originally the General Dynamics Electronics Division before it was spun off.) In February 1996, Tracor acquired AEL Industries, an electronic warfare systems and components manufacturer which became part of the Tracor Aerospace division in March 1997. Tracor had a 30-year history of support of the Aegis defense system on United States Navy cruisers and destroyers. Tracor had great success in its later years designing and producing flare and chaff cartridges and their dispenser systems for military aircraft in defense against infrared- and radar-targeting missiles. GEC takeover General Electric Company plc