Thales has lost a decade-old licensing and marketing dispute with Euromissile and must pay €108 million ($109 million) to the EADS company, the International Arbitration Court in Paris ruled last week. Thales is challenging the decision, which it says is based on an erroneous calculation of how much potential income Euromissile has lost after Thales in 1999 revoked its seven-year-old licence to manufacture the VT1 missile. Thales withdrew the manufacturing licence for the VT1, which equips the Crotale and Roland systems and was designed by Thales (then Thomson-CSF, after Crotale was sold to Greece in 1999 and then could not agree on a manufacturing price with Euromissile. The VT1 is now made by Thales Air Defence in Belfast. Meanwhile, Thales Avionics has received C$9.9 million ($6.3 million) in Canadian government funding to support development of a fly-by-wire flight-control system, enhanced vision system and required navigation performance system, mainly for business and regional aircraft.
Source: Flight International
