Legal and accounting hurdles should be overcome "soon" to allow the launch of Europe's new giant guided weapons company, says Alan Garwood, deputy chief executive of Matra BAe Dynamics.
"The intention is to have things sorted out so we can start trading by the beginning of the new year," says Garwood. "We would have liked to have unveiled the company at Farnborough with a big bang, but we can't do that. We need to get the legalities sorted.
"The new company will involve the old Aerospatiale-Matra Missiles, Matra BAe Dynamics (MBD), Alenia Marconi Systems and all of DASA's LFK missile company," he says. "There will be no Spanish involvement in the core of the new company. There will be a separate Spanish dimension; we will have a shareholding in a Spanish missile company.
"There will be no Swedish involvement; they will remain separate. The new company name will not contain the words Matra or BAe - it will be a great name," he says. "We are just sorting out the registration and dot.com domains."
Garwood says the contracts for new Meteor beyond visual range air-to-air missiles will be completed by the end of this year or early in 2001 with all the five governments.
"The contracting is through the United Kingdom's Defence Procurement Agency. There is a lot of negotiating to do with the five countries on contracts, production, work-share, etc.
"A lot of work is still to be done. Some countries still have to get final budgetary approval from their parliaments. Sweden has confirmed full membership and got full parliamentary approval. It is full steam ahead now. We are absolutely confident that the onerous performance targets set by the UK Ministry of Defence are not a problem. We would not have signed a contract if we were not happy with them."
Source: Flight Daily News