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. 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. Shortly following the renaming of Thomson-CSF to
Thales in 2000, Thomson-CSF Signaal was renamed
Thales Nederland. The company has been involved in various other projects with EADS, which has since been rebranded as the
Airbus Group. In 2014, a statement of intent was signed between Thales Nederland and the Royal Netherlands Navy to intensify cooperation when it comes to maintenance. In February 2024, it was reported that Thales Nederland had tripled its radar production over the last few years. ==Products==