Founded by Raymond Brown and George Calder Cunningham in Isleworth, London, Racal was a radio communications and electronics manufacturer. They provided radio receivers to the Royal Navy and also tried expanding into the US defence market.

In 1980, Racal bought Decca Ltd and formed Racal-Decca. Then in 1983, along with British Telecom, Racal was successful at gaining an original licence to operate a cellular network in the UK and formed the Racal Telecom subsidiary, now known as Vodafone.

In 1990-1991, Racal Telecom was demerged from Racal Electronics. Vodafone became the largest mobile network in the world.

In 2000, Racal was bought by Thomson-CSF and is now known as the Thales Group.