Julian Moxon/PARIS
The idea of an eventual merger between the combat aircraft divisions of British Aerospace and Dassault Aviation has been given a boost by French minister of defence Alain Richard.
Citing the consolidation in military aircraft that has taken place in the USA as "illuminating", Richard says in an interview in French financial newspaper Les Echos that the two European companies should develop a "common industrial and commercial strategy" to replace the current structure, in which European companies often compete against each other as well as with the USA.
BAe and Dassault already work together on long term combat aircraft technologies under a memorandum of understanding signed in 1996. The number of personnel involved in early project work for a next generation combat aircraft has increased in recent months to around 70, and senior management from the two sides meet regularly. A Dassault official confirms that the relations between the two are "very cordial", adding that BAe's combat aircraft work makes it "the only real candidate for future co-operation in this field".
Meanwhile, Richard has ruled out any privatisation of Aerospatiale as a precursor to the creation of a European aerospace grouping, preferring the idea of creating large, unified aerospace groupings by discipline. "The main thing is to bring together quickly and efficiently the maximum number of activities carried out by the Europeans," he says. This would have the advantage of allowing an escape from "generalities and confirmations of principle" so that what he calls "dynamic and balanced agreements" can be forged.
He reveals that the Government is working towards unifying the missile activities of Matra and Aerospatiale "in the framework of existing or planned European alliances, particularly with the Italian aerospace industry".
Matra and BAe have already pooled missile activities in the joint venture Matra BAe Dynamics, and the concern has taken a 30% stake in the Daimler-Benz Aerospace missile house LFK to widen its pan-European credentials.
Richard denies that there has been any pressure from the UK and Germany to privatise Aerospatiale. "It is true that there are different approaches because the capital structures of the three are different," he says, but he adds that there is "no reason a public shareholder with a visible management and clear objectives" should not be involved in the European grouping.
Meanwhile, French prime minister Lionel Jospin is said to be responding "positively" to Richard's demands for a revised defence budget plan in which spending over the next four years will be increased by a few per cent over the 1998 figure, but leaving the amount in each year to be decided according to programme requirements.
Richard wants to reverse the strong downward trend in the defence equipment budget that has left the French aerospace industry complaining loudly about the lack of domestic orders. Planned spending in 1998 has fallen to around Fr81 billion ($13.1 million), against Fr89.7 billion called for in the original 1997-2002 five year plan. The Government is now proposing a global figure of around Fr350 billion over the next four years, which would yield an average equipment budget of Fr87.5 billion a year.
Source: Flight International