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December 27, 1965 Electronics
 [Table of Contents]
Wax nostalgic about and learn from the history of early electronics.
See articles from Electronics,
published 1930 - 1988. All copyrights hereby acknowledged.
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This is the electronics market
prediction for Belgium, the land of
Hercule Poirot, circa
1966. It was part of a comprehensive assessment by the editors of Electronics
magazine of the state of commercial, military, and consumer electronics at the end
of 1965. Military systems for NATO and television sets were a big part of the picture.
Unless you can find a news story on the state of the industry, detailed reports
must be purchased from research companies like
Statista. Their website has a lot of charts on Belgium's current electronics
market showing revenue in the consumer electronics segment amounts of
US$2.56B in 2025.
The $346.4M reported in 1965 is the equivalent of
$3.50B in 2025, representing a drop of nearly 27%.
Separate reports are included for
West Germany
(the Berlin Wall was still up then), the
United Kingdom,
France,
Denmark,
Austria,
Sweden,
Belgium,
Switzerland,
the Netherlands,
and Italy.
Russia, although
obviously not part of Europe, is also covered.
Belgium
Electronics Market
 Industry expecting drop next year
Champagne corks will not be popping when Belgian electronics companies greet
the new year - business is expected to drop for them next year although the domestic
market, in which imports are a big factor, will be up about 7% to $371.6 million
from $346.4 million for Belgium and Luxemburg.
The main reason for the decline: military contracts - some $80 million worth
for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's Starfighter and Hawk missile programs
which had buoyed the industry over the past four years - have dwindled to practically
nothing. But there is one major military contract that could help the industry,
which is dominated by a trio of companies - Manufacture Belge de Lampes et de Materiél
Electroniques (MBLE), Atéliers de Construction Electriques de Charleroi (ACEC)
and Bell Telephone Manufacturing Co; (BTM).
Sales of television sets - expected to reach nearly $24.6 million this year -
should stay about the same at $24.7 million in 1966, according to Jaques LaGrange,
head of MBLE, the country's leading components manufacturer.
Military Electronics
The contract Belgian electronics producers count on most is their $11.8-million
share of the $280 million Nadge (NATO's air-defense ground-environment) project,
scheduled for award this March. Nadge is NATO's plan for an integrated air-defense
network stretching from Norway to Turkey.
The industry also expects a communications gear contract when Belgium buys 300
tanks from either France or West Germany probably early next year. Belgium will
stipulate that its own firms get tank-equipment contracts amounting to just about
the cost of the tanks.
MBLE also will have prototypes of a transceiver for paratroopers ready next year
and hopes to produce them by 1967. BTM is now field testing pulse-code-modulation
equipment for the Belgian Army. The circuit boards have both microcircuits and discrete
components, but the circuitry was designed for an eventual switchover to microcircuits.
Space Technology
All three companies are just starting in space projects through the European
Launcher Development Organization (ELDO) and the European Space Research Organization
(ESRO). Belgian engineers will install the ELDO downrange guidance system in northern
Australia next year. The system is currently being tested at Grimbergen Airfield
near Brussels. MBLE was prime contractor for the system, but both ACEC and BTM supplied
much of the equipment.
Industrial Outlook
The lone bright spot in the outlook for next year is in industrial equipment,
likely to pick up by about 15%. One possible shot in the arm for next year or 1967
is the instrumentation for three nuclear power stations Belgian public utilities
have tentative plans to build.
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