One unit that could come in the cross-hairs is Sanders, a maker of sensitive aircraft protection and surveillance equipment, which BAE acquired from Lockheed in 2000.

Jacques Gansler, who served as the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer at that time, faced tough questions from some U.S. lawmakers who were angry that the Pentagon was allowing a British company access to sensitive U.S. weapons technologies.

Gansler, who serves on the board of three companies operating under SSA agreements with the Pentagon, said he still believes it was the right decision to allow BAE to buy Sanders.

He said he expected the BAE-EADS merger to ultimately win approval as well because it would create a sixth large prime contractor to bid on U.S. military contracts.

“In this case, you’re not losing a competitor, you’re actually strengthening one,” he said, noting that the Sanders deal had also cemented already strong military ties between Britain and the United States.

(Additional reporting by Tim Hepher in Paris; Editing by Bernard Orr)