Products Small arms, Missile Founded 1980 | Headquarters Takeley Type Privately held company | |
Fate Non-operational as of 2012 | ||
Imperial Defence Services Ltd was a British based, privately owned firearms manufacturer. Born in 1947, Mick Ranger runs Imperial Defence Services, which is based in the Essex village of Takeley. His firm has operations in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Nigeria, Australia, South Africa and Vietnam. The company website states:
Apart from countless transactions involving small arms in general, we have completed transactions for Surface to Air Missiles, Anti-tank weapons and a large quantity of Missile Warhead Fuses, Rifle Grenades and Heavy Machine Guns.
The website does not quote prices, although it is claimed that it previously stated the company sold grenade-launchers for £450, and a collection of rifles from £195 to a £20,000 General Electric Minigun.
The firm legally sold rifles to the shooter involved in the Hungerford massacre.
Mick Ranger, the owner of the company, was arrested in July 2012 to three-and-a-half years imprisonment for setting up a deal to sell missiles and handguns to Azerbaijan, a country which has had an arms export ban since 1992.