The Thermal Battery division of Aérospatiale has been in operation since 1966. By the time ASB was formed, this pool of excellence had already produced some 100 different models, more than 750,000 batteries and had made a significant contribution to all the major armament programmes of its time, such as the Exocet, Milan, AS 30 laser etc

SAFT is an electrochemical company of world-wide standing and has been producing Thermal Batteries since the beginning of the 1980s. The company has shown itself to be particularly successful in the production of short runs required in a number of programmes, and has acquired wide international experience with its production plants centred in France, the United States and the United Kingdom.

The product of two world-wide international groups, ASB has succeeded in combining the know-how of businesses and complementary cultures and introduced tried and tested solutions in the field of industrialisation. Its body of shareholders reflect the continuity of its history and reinforces the fact that it belongs to two groups of high expertise.

In 1996, the Thermal Battery activities of MSA Catalyst Divison Ltd in Scotland was brought into the ASB Group and restyled Missiles & Space Batteries (‘MSB’). This concluded the consolidation of experience and technologies, enabling the Group to offer the widest range of solutions currently available on the market.

Today, the numerous examples of synergy and the interchange of personnel mean that there is even more benefit to be derived from internal skills. In addition, there is also the strength behind a group that can provide optimum solutions to the needs of the most demanding customers.

January 27, 2006, ASB decided to launch a new US Thermal Battery company. This new company was incorporated in the State of Delaware in February 2006 under the name Advanced Thermal Batteries Inc. , ATB Inc. With the support of ASB-Group, ATB Inc. provides a complete range of services for Thermal Batteries in the USA. Services include design, development and production capabilities to meet customer requirements.

In 1998, on the basis of its technological expertise, the ASB Group set up a division specifically for the development, the production and the marketing of hermetic seals: ASB Hermetics. Drawing on its skills in functioning under extreme conditions, ASB Hermetics now specialises in glass to metal seals. With its technological expertise and industrial resources ASB Hermetics is able to offer high quality seals to allow the critical transmission of optical or electronic signals in extremely severe environments.