Chronology of the Company

Chemring Countermeasures Ltd (CCM) was originally formed in 1926. Known then by the name James Pain & Son Ltd, and later as Pains Wessex Ltd, its origins came from the 1850s and a company known as James Pain.

The business today has evolved from the combination of the countermeasures business of Pains Wessex with the countermeasures technology originally owned by another Chemring Group company known as Chemring Ltd.

How they came to become Chemring Countermeasures:

Chemring Countermeasures Ltd

After incorporation in 1926 James Pain & Son Ltd was primarily concerned with the manufacture of pyrotechnics. In 1960 the company was acquired by Bryant & May who also went on to acquire a company known as the Wessex Aircraft Engineering Company Limited, that manufactured pyrotechnic products for the military together with fireworks, in 1962 and were based at the site the Chemring Countermeasures occupies to this day.

By 1965 Bryant & May had amalgamated the businesses of these two companies under the James Pain & Son Ltd name and renamed it Pains Wessex Ltd.

In 1973 Schermuly Ltd was also acquired by Bryant & May and that company’s business was transferred to the High Post site by 1981. Meanwhile the parent company Bryant & May was being acquired by larger and larger groups ultimately, prior to being bought by the Chemring Group, being owned by the Allegheny International Group of America, an enormous group of companies trading in a vast variety of products. In 1976 firework manufacture ceased totally and the company then concentrated on pyrotechnics manufacture.

By 1985, when the company was purchased by Chemring Group PLC, together with it’s military & marine pyrotechnics, the company was also manufacturing infra-red decoy flares which was what bought it to the attention of the Chairman of Chemring.

Chemring Ltd

Chemring Ltd was formed in 1941 by Charles Suchy. Part of the Suchy Holdings Group, the company developed a process for metallising fabrics. It went on to manufacture radar reflectors which had been used in World War II to confuse radar operators as to the location of aircraft in the sky. In 1971 Chemring expanded its countermeasures business by buying the Electronic Countermeasures division of F. Bender Ltd, the only other UK chaff manufacturer at the time. It was also awarded the Ministry of Defence Quality Assurance Board’s highest approval category available at the time.

Having identified that the way ahead in countermeasures was to combine both the Chaff and Infra-red technologies as one business the original plan in 1985 had been that the Allegheny group that owned Pains Wessex would buy Chemring Ltd. However the tables ultimately turned and Chemring Group PLC, the then parent of Chemring Ltd, purchased the Pains Wessex business. For many years the businesses were run along side each other, with the Chaff manufacture in Portsmouth, until finally in 2005 all manufacturing was moved to Salisbury.

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