Terma A/S

Terma A/S is a Danish defense and aerospace manufacturer for both civilian and military applications, and is owned by the Danish company Thrige Holding A/S. It is Denmark's largest company within the aerospace and defense industry employing approximately 1100 people worldwide.

The company was founded in 1949 by Orla and Svend Aage Jørgensen, originally making thermometers and manometers for ships and a variety of metal components. The group's international customers contribute more than 87% of Terma's total sales.

Terma A/S headquarters are located in Lystrup near Århus, Denmark. In Denmark, other Terma facilities are located at Grenaa and Herlev. Terma international locations and operations include Leiden and Woensdrecht in the Netherlands; Darmstadt near Frankfurt, Germany; Harwell, UK; Singapore, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates and New Delhi, India. In 2004 the company opened an office in Warner Robins, Georgia. Today, the company's U.S. activities also include the Terma North America Inc. headquarters in Arlington, Virginia and offices in Fort Worth, Texas and Norfolk, Virginia.

History
Terma was founded by the brothers Orla and Svend Aage Jørgensen in Aarhus, Denmark where the company made thermometers and had fewer than 10 employees. In 1949 it was bought by Thorkild Juncker. Juncker shifted Therma A/S in the direction of electronic measuring instruments and with the employment of a Norwegian engineer soon developed a radar that would prove to be competitive in both price and quality. Within 6 years of buying Therma, Juncker was employing up to 120 people before his untimely death in 1955.. It was under Juncker's ownership and management that Terma developed into the company it is today. Over a period of 20 years Therma A/S started developing radar- computer- and air defense systems and expanded to the European market and started producing missile systems. The Thomas B. Thrige foundation took over the majority of the stocks in Terma A/S in 1980. In the late 1990s Terma A/S acquired Computer Resources International, a Danish aerospace and defense company as well as the Danish aircraft company Per Udsen Co. Aircraft. In 1999 the Danish Ørsted satellite was successfully launched with Terma A/S being the lead supplier on the project. The satellite is the only Danish satellite launched into space. During the 2000s Terma A/S made agreements with Lockheed Martin to subcontract on the Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. Later, Terma was chosen to develop and produce several components and designs for the F-35 joint strike fighter, including the gun pod.

Business areas and Products


The business areas of Terma can be divided into the following categories: Aerostructures, Space, Defense, and Security & Surveillance:

Aerostructures
Terma Aerostructures A/S is headquartered in Grenaa, Denmark, focusing on design and manufacture of aerostructures for aerospace and defense companies. Terma is a strategic supplier to the F-35 Lightning II, delivering a series of parts, components, and technologies to the fighter aircraft. The company delivers leading edges through Lockheed Martin, composite tail parts through BAE Systems, gun pods for the F-35B and C versions through General Dynamics, as well as fuselage parts and electronics through Northrop Grumman Corporation. All in all Terma delivers more than 70 mission-critical parts for the F-35 Lightning II.

Space
Space (SPD), providing on-board electronics and software for satellites as well as control centres. Key focus areas are power conditioning systems and star trackers for satellites.

Power conditioning units
Terma delivers power conditioning systems to a series of major space products, including ESA's BepiColombo and Rosetta. In the case of BepiColombo, the power conditioning unit is the most powerful used on missions by the ESA with a capacity of 14 kW powered by solar energy on its destination planet Mercury.

In the Rosetta project Terma has developed a 64 square meter solar panel providing power at down to 4 percent of the Earth's solar energy and at working temperatures down to -130 degrees Celsius. The PCU delivers a bus power capability of 1500 watt at a weight of 8,3 kilo.

Star trackers
Since 1999, Terma has manufactured Star Trackers for several scientific satellite missions including Cryosat 1, Cryosat-2, ADM-Aeolus, LISA Pathfinder, and Tacsat 1, 2 and 4.

Defense
Terma produces C-Flex command and control systems for war ships including ships of the Danish, Lithuanian, Romanian and Thai Navy. The C-Flex systems and the Terma SCANTER radar systems are supplied to new-built ships such as the Royal Thai Navy Landing Docks, the Danish Absalon-Class Support Ships, and the Danish Iver Huitfeldt-class frigates as well as upgrades on ships in service, such as the Danish Thetis-Class and offshore patrol vessels. The company develops electronic warfare protection systems and 3D-audio systems as upgrades for the F-16 fighters of the Royal Danish Air Force. Additionally, Terma has supplied electronic warfare solutions for the EPAF countries and the U.S. Air National Guard for F-16, A-10, Tornado and Harrier aircraft. Terma develops aircraft survivability equipment for a variety of SAR and transportation helicopters, including the 14 Royal Danish Air Force EH-101 Merlin helicopters in collaboration with Agusta Westland, and self-protection systems for the Royal Netherlands Air Force AH-64D and CH-47 Chinook helicopters. The Terma Electronic Warfare Management Systems are fielded internationally on more than 2,000 fighter and transportation aircraft and helicopters.

Terma A/S also produces Missile Warning Systems as an integral part of the electronic warfare solution for the F-16s of the Danish and Norwegian air forces, mounting the systems on pylons instead of the traditional fuselage installation.

Security & Surveillance
The Terma SCANTER 5202 radar is used by coast guard services including the U.S. Coast Guard, the Spanish Guardia Civil, the Columbian Coast Guard, the Norwegian Coast Guard, Port of London, and Port of Hong Kong to track marine vessels and aircraft, while the Terma ET2 embedded tracker is developed to help track stealth objects or smaller objects in the presence of clutter.