Finmeccanica chief executive Pierfrancesco Guarguaglini says the Italian industrial state holding company is interested in closer ties with BAE Systems despite difficulties encountered in the recent attempt to establish the joint EuroSystems company.
Speaking at a Rome seminar attended by NATO and defence industry officials, Guarguaglini outlined his strategic vision of Finmeccanica and BAE Systems expanding the scope of their 50:50 AMS joint venture.
Guarguaglini appears to favour BAE's recent proposal to split the pair's activities into three autonomous areas, leading to BAE Systems taking a majority stake in AMS, while Finmeccanica would control the avionics and communications branches.
The alliance is important in the light of US constraints imposed on technology transfer, he says.
Italy is investing a mere $290 million a year on defence research and development compared to Germany's $1.3 billion, France's $3.1 billion and the UK's $4 billion.
Source: Flight International
