Company Profile: 

EADS has organised its various business activities into five divisions - Airbus, Military Transport Aircraft, Aeronautics, Defence and Civil Systems and Space. The Airbus programme provides the best example of a European success story. In 1967, the governments of Germany, France and Great Britain agreed on the Airbus development. The maiden flight of the first Airbus model, the A300B, took place in 1972. Aerospatiale Matra and Dasa Airbus each have a 37.9 percent share in the European consortium Airbus Industrie while CASA has 4.2 percent and BAE Systems 20 percent. In 1999, Airbus gained a roughly 55 percent share of the market. The final assembly lines of the modern Airbus jets are located in Hamburg and Toulouse.

Company History:

DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa) 
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (Dasa) was founded in 1989 as Deutsche Aerospace AG. It bundled together the aeronautics and space activities of the DaimlerChrysler Concern, which held 100 % of its shares. A large part of the German aerospace industry was assimilated into Dasa. The companies Dornier (shares 57.6 %, voting rights 87.5 %), Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), MTU Munich and Telefunken Systemtechnik (TST) were merged. In 1997, Siemens Sicherungstechnik joined the concern. Its international competitiveness could be assured by means of the national consolidation of the German aerospace industry. Dasa generated three-quarters of its turnover in European and transatlantic cooperations. Since the foundation of EADS, the engines manufacturer MTU Munich is managed directly by DaimlerChrysler AG.

Aerospatiale Matra S.A.
Aerospatiale was created in 1970 by the fusion of the French state-owned companies Sud-Aviation, Nord-Aviation and Societé d'Etudes et de Réalisation d'Engins Balistiques (Sereb). The private industry Matra Group had extended its activities since the 1960's to space and defence activities. In June 1999, the state-owned Aerospatiale fused as part of its privatisation with the Matra High Technology Group, derived from the private Lagardère Group, into the Aerospatiale-Matra Concern, in which the French State (directly and indirectly) held 48 % and the Lagardère Group 33 % of the shares. 19 % of the capital was widely spread (17 % on the Stock Exchange and 2 % to the workforce).

Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) 
CASA (Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA), founded in 1923, is the number 1 in the Spanish aerospace and defence industries and has participated for years in the major European programmes in this sector. As part of its privatisation, CASA was incorporated into EADS. Up to that point in time, the Spanish state holding company SEPI (Sociedad Estalt de Participationes Industriales) held the shares in the aerospace concern. CASA is one of the market leaders for light and medium-sized military transport aircraft. In addition, it has gathered comprehensive experience in the carbon fibre compound materials. 90 % of its turnover is earned by CASA with the export of its products.

Products and Services:

The Aeronautics Division comprises all aeronautic businesses in the area of military aircraft (Eurofighter), helicopters (Eurocopter), regional aircraft (ATR), light aircraft (Socata) and aircraft conversion and maintenance (Sogerma, EFW).

In the field of military aircraft, Dasa and CASA are working together on the Eurofighter aircraft. All seven prototypes are now taking part in the test programme.

Socata manufactures a range of light aircraft for the private civil aircraft market.

EADS is the third largest producer of space technology in the world and the leading European supplier of satellites, orbital infrastructure and launchers. Astrium, Europe's leading space company was launched in May 2000.

In the Space Systems business segment, the Arianespace S.A. consortium is at the centre of the cooperation. Here, the EADS partners will have a 25.9 percent stake, with over 50 other European companies and institutions also participating.

In the Satellites business segment, Aerospatiale Matra and Dasa produce numerous satellites with Aerospatiale Matra acting as leader.

In the Defence and Civil Systems Division, Dasa and Aerospatiale hold equal shares in the Euromissile company, which develops and produces the antitank systems HOT and Milan and also the short range antiaircraft system Roland.