New Companies and Name Changes for Farnborough Biggies

The mock-up of the Global Hawk UAV on show here symbolizes the continuing change in the structure of the aerospace industry. In 1995 the program was launched with Teledyne Ryan as prime contractor, heading a team that included Lockheed Martin, Hughes, Allison and AlliedSignal. Looking at the program today, you might think that everyone had been fired. Prime contractor Northrop Grumman leads a team including L3 Communications, Raytheon, Rolls-Royce and Honeywell. But of course, it is just the names that have changed. The process continues.

This year, more big Farnborough names have changed than ever before.

Home team British Aerospace has become BAE Systems, the result of a fusion in 1999 between the former BAe and Marconi Systems. The new combination is regarded with suspicion in the rest of Europe, where UK industry is suspected of following a transatlantic path. BAE Systems is expanding its presence in the U.S. electronic warfare scene-it already owns what used to be Tracor and has reached an agreement to acquire Sanders from Lockheed Martin.

Cut off by fog in the channel is brand-new EADS, the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space company. The core of EADS is formed from Aerospatiale Matra, DaimlerChrysler and Casa, and it is expanding as the basis of a military group that will include the military aircraft activities of Alenia Aerospazio and Aermacchi.

BAE Systems and EADS are the parents to several large joint ventures, some of which are new. Airbus Industrie is on the road to becoming Airbus Integrated Company, a full-scale aircraft manufacturer jointly owned by EADS and BAE. Following the UK's decision to launch the Meteor long-range missile to arm Eurofighter Typhoon, Matra BAE Dynamics becomes one of two full-spectrum European missile producers, alongside newly renamed Alenia Marconi Systems.

Newly created Astrium, another child in the EADS/BAE family, combines the former DaimlerChrysler spacecraft division with the Franco-British Matra Marconi Space company. EADS has formed its own Launch Vehicles division, however, focused on Ariane.
Soon, the second largest defense company in the UK will be Thomson-CSF. The French combine has already acquired a number of established UK companies-Link-Miles, Rediffusion and Shorts Missile Systems among them-and is completing its purchase of Racal, boosting its presence in both the UK and U.S. The company also intends to list itself on the London Stock Exchange.
GKN-Westland and Agusta should announce progress in their long-planned merger this week, joining forces as a counterweight to Eurocopter. Agusta, however, keeps feet in the U.S. and mainland European camps as a participant in Bell-Agusta Aerospace and the NATO Helicopter (NH) group.

On the U.S. side, the most significant change since last year is the formation of Honeywell International. The new company has AlliedSignal's headquarters address and the Honeywell name, and is working on a number of projects that combine the strengths of its predecessors.

By Bill Sweetman