During 1994, the firm was formally renamed Cobham plc; by this point, the company had in excess of 10,000 employees and had operations in North America, Europe, Malaysia and South Africa.

During the 1920s and 1930s, aerial refuelling of aircraft in mid-flight was performed only on an experimental basis, typically for attempts to set new flight endurance records.

[4] Alan decided to leave de Havilland to pursue his own ventures, including the formation of an aerobatic troupe and a small airline; he embarked on a long term campaign to popularise commercial air travel, making efforts to secure both public and the British Government's backing for the sector.

[3][5] Alan believed that practical in-flight refuelling techniques would revolutionise commercial airlines and enable new long distance air routes; however, development work later focused largely upon its military applications.

[4] During 1939, the company played a role in several non-stop crossings of the Atlantic performed by British airline Imperial Airways;[2] however, it would be the adoption of aerial refuelling by the United States Air Force during the initial post-war years that would perhaps most prominently highlight the technology's value.

Cobham's air-to-air refuelling system was perhaps most crucially used during the Falklands War of 1982, being used to facilitate the long-distance sorties of the RAF's Avro Vulcan bombers for Operation Black Buck, successfully reaching and bombing the Argentinian-held airfield at Port Stanley on the islands.

[11] In April 2009, Cobham agreed to purchase Argotek Inc., a provider of high-end information assurance services to the United States Intelligence Community, for $36 million.

[12] In June 2009, a Cobham – Northrop Grumman 50–50 joint venture won the US Army's US$2.4 billion competition to supply Vehicular Intercom Systems.

[20] In July 2019, the company's board agreed to recommend a takeover offer of £4 billion from American private equity firm Advent International.

[22] In response, Advent issued several guarantees, seeking to mollify national security concerns ahead of pending approval of the deal by the British Government.

[31][32] In July 2023, French multinational Thales Group entered into a deal to acquire the aerospace communications business of Cobham for $1.1 billion, which it expects to complete during the first half of 2024.

Schneier noted that Cobham's customers include the governments of Algeria, Brunei, Ghana, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the United States.

[38] The versions of Siva are:[39] Viper is an electronically-controlled closed circuit mixed gas rebreather originally manufactured by Carleton Life Support, subsequently acquired by Cobham plc and fitted with the Juergensen Defense Corporation Mark V Electronic Control System.

It is designed for use by combat Explosive Ordnance Disposal divers, and for diving to remove naval mines which may be sensitive to sound and magnetic fields.