CASA's military transport aircraft business is to be excluded from the new European Military Aircraft Company (EMAC) due to be formed by Italy's Finmeccanica and EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space), of which the Spanish company is now part.
EADS says the military transport activities of Finmeccanica's Alenia Aeronautica will be part of EMAC, although industry sources say the business - part of the LMATTS joint venture with Lockheed Martin - may yet be excluded.
The CASA decision means that EMAC's three core businesses - fighter aircraft, transports and trainers - will effectively face competition from three other businesses in which the EMAC partners are shareholders.
In addition to the transports contest between the EADS (CASA) C295 and EMAC (LMATTS) C-27J, rival fighter offerings will see Eurofighter, which will effectively become a joint venture between EMAC and the UK's BAE Systems, competing with the Rafale, offered by Dassault Aviation, in which EADS has a sizeable holding.
At the same time, the MB339 and the new M-346 trainer, produced by Aermacchi, in which Alenia has a 20% stake, will compete with EADS's proposed Mako (planned by the former DaimlerChrysler Aerospace). Alenia's AMX (a joint venture between Alenia and Embraer) will also go head-to-head with the light strike version of the Mako.
EMAC is working to persuade Aermacchi's majority shareholder, the Italian Foresio family, to fold the trainer specialist into EMAC in time for its launch at the start of next year, but is so far unable to report any concrete progress.
EADS sources admit the EMAC situation is confused, but say that while the integration process is progressing well at an industrial level, political issues mean the new company must pass through a "transitional phase" before it can achieve true consolidation.
"We think, for example, that the Dassault business should be included in the group through another integration phase," the source adds, "because Rafale is a competing product."
EMAC had a pro-forma 1999 turnover of €2.5 billion ($2.6 billion) - €1.1 billion from Dasa, €200 million from CASA and €1.2 billion from Alenia. Its workforce will total 17,000 - almost 10,000 from Alenia, 6,300 from Dasa and 900 from CASA.
Source: Flight International
