There were two companies in the formation: The missile, weapon systems and space businesses of these companies were merged into British Aerospace Dynamics Limited (BADL), a wholly owned subsidiary of BAe.
In December 1979, Euromissile Dynamics Group was formed with Aérospatiale of Toulouse, France and MBB of Ottobrunn.
On 1 January 1992, British Aerospace Defence Ltd began trading as a wholly owned subsidiary of BAe.
Previously separate defence companies now operated as divisions of that subsidiary: In 1994, the BAe Dynamics subsidiary British Aerospace Space Systems was sold to Matra Marconi Space.
In 1996, BAe Dynamics' guided weapons division was merged with a division of Matra Defense to form the then largest European missile manufacturer, Matra BAe Dynamics.