Military

EADS awards Norwegian industry with technology development contracts for Eurofighter

Oslo/Munich, 13 June 2003

Today EADS, part of the Eurofighter consortium, signed a contract with Thales of Norway for the development of advanced maintenance data recording techniques. This contract, worth six million EUR will involve close cooperation between Thales and EADS over the next three to four years in high technology development work. The cooperation will place Thales of Norway in a prime position to win future production contracts on the Eurofighter program. It will also allow Thales to utilise the high technology experience gained in this work in other product areas of key long-term strategic importance to the future success of this Norwegian company.

The contract forms part of the larger 20 million agreement with the Norwegian Government for Norway’s participation in the development of the Eurofighter weapons system. The contract has been concluded within only three months. This demonstrates the commitment and value of the partnership between Norwegian industry and the major aerospace and defence companies which form the Eurofighter consortium; Alenia of Italy, EADS of Germany and Spain and BAE SYSTEMS of Great Britain.

Aloysius Rauen, President and CEO of EADS Military Aircraft, commented that “the signing of this contract demonstrates the commitment of EADS and the Eurofighter consortium to Norway and highlights the value to Norway of maintaining a competition for the replacement of the F-16 fighters. It also demonstrates the ability of Norwegian industry to participate in high technology development work and conclude, in a short timeframe, a detailed contract which will have long term benefit to their company’s future prospects. This is what we call a true partnership of equals.”

Olaf Valeur, Chief Operating Officer of Thales Communications AS (TCN), stated: “This contract introduces Thales Communications AS as a qualified supplier to the international aerospace industry. Being selected as supplier to Eurofighter is a major breakthrough in our endeavours to position TCN as a supplier to the military aircraft industry. This contract also confirms and strengthens our leading position as supplier of professional encrypted communication solutions and next-generation wireless soldier communications systems. The development of the Maintenance Data Panel for Eurofighter Tranche 3 will be based on the Thales Trusted Virtual Private Network solution for mobile users and our Octopus BodyLAN solution.”

The Eurofighter consortium also revealed that they are in the process of finalising up to five further contracts with other Norwegian companies and FFI (Norwegian Defence Research Establishment), for work on advanced radar technology development, advanced flight control technology and the integration of the new Kongsberg NSM missile onto the Eurofighter weapon system. The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Defence are. currently reviewing these contracts prior to giving their approval to proceed to contract signature.

Completion of these further contacts will fulfil the agreement with the Norwegian Government covering 20 million E of development work over the next three to five years. Eurofighter and Norwegian industry are hopeful that through the success of these contracts the overall agreement with Norwegian Government can be extended to the benefit of all the participants.

EADS is a global aerospace and defence company and is the world’s second largest in terms of revenues, having achieved 29.9 billion in 2002. EADS maintains a workforce of more than 100,000 and is a market leader in defence technology, commercial aircraft, helicopters, space, military transport and combat aircraft, as well as related services. It’s family of leading brands includes the commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus, the world’s largest helicopter manufacturer Eurocopter, the space company Astrium and MBDA, the world´s second largest missile company. EADS is the biggest partner in the Eurofighter consortium and heads the A400M military transport aircraft programme. The company has over 70 sites in Germany, France, Great Britain and Spain. It is active in many regions worldwide, including the U.S., Russia and Asia.

Your contact:

EADS Military Aircraft
Wolfram Wolff
Phone: +49-89-607 25711
Fax: +49-89-607 22455
eMail: wolfram.wolff@m.eads.net