CAP Scientific - DNA (SSCS) and Merger

DNA (SSCS) and Merger

The Falklands War prompted a further competition in British naval equipment supply when an analysis of the loss of HMS Sheffield showed that improvements were necessary in surface ship combat systems. A contract for the command system for the navy's new Type 23 frigates was cancelled and put out to competition, and after a long campaign was awarded to the CAP and Gresham consortium, teamed with Racal Electronics. The consortium developed the architecture of SMCS to create a derivative distributed system known internally as Surface-Ship Command System (SSCS). By now Gresham-Lion was under Dowty ownership and CAP Group had merged with the French company SEMA-METRA SA to form Sema Group plc.

The Type 23 command system proved to be a step too far for Sema Scientific, as it was now called. The enormous fixed-price contract overran, causing problems for both Sema and Dowty. Dowty was taken over by TI Group, who sold their interests in Dowty-Sema back to Sema Group for £1. Sema Group invited British Aerospace in as a co-investor in the business, and the activities which once formed CAP Scientific, Gresham-CAP and YARD, together with some BAe interests were merged in 1991 into a new entity, BAeSEMA. Ultimately, BAe purchased Sema Group's interest in BAeSEMA. Ironically, with the BAe/Marconi Electronic Systems merger to form BAE Systems in 1999, the CAP Scientific business found itself under the same parent as its erstwhile competitor Ferranti.