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Defense Industry News - Cassidian / Rheinmetall
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| Monday, January
23, 2012, 09:19 AM |
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| CASSIDIAN
and Rheinmetall pool their UAS Unmanned Aerial Systems activities. |
Cassidian
and Rheinmetall have agreed to pursue Rheinmetall’s Unmanned Aerial
Systems (UAS) activities together in a Joint Venture. It was agreed in
a contract that Cassidian should hold 51 percent and Rheinmetall 49 percent
of the shares in the newly established Joint Venture. The ownership interests
are to be assigned to Cassidian by mid- 2012 once all the necessary authorisations
and antitrust approvals have been granted. The announcement was made by
the two companies in Munich and Düsseldorf on Friday, January 20,
2012. |
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KZO (Kleinfluggerät
Zielortung) UAS
Unmanned Reconnaissance System
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For
Cassidian, the incorporation of this sector of Rheinmetall is an ideal
supplement to its existing UAS product portfolio. Rheinmetall’s
Bremen-based subsidiary Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH firmly expects
this step to improve the opportunities for development of its Airborne
Systems product unit and secure sustainable long-term prospects for it.
From the point of view of both partners, the Joint Venture will give the
Airborne Systems product unit access to broader development resources
and international market access opportunities that had not so far existed
to any comparable extent and will thus secure jobs at the Bremen site.
Stefan
Zoller, CEO of Cassidian, said to the agreed creation of the Joint Venture:
“As Europe’s leading provider of Unmanned Aerial Systems,
we see this as a logical step towards expanding our present UAS programmes.
We can offer our global customers a full product range of customised solutions,
including tactical UAS and UAS for medium- and high-altitude.”
Klaus
Eberhardt, Chairman of the Executive Board of Rheinmetall AG, stressed:
“First and foremost, our goal is to strengthen the Airborne Systems
product unit in a sustained way, providing it with new opportunities for
marketing its state-of-the-art products in years to come. And of course
we also want our employees to have a secure future in Bremen, a traditional
centre of German high-tech excellence that will continue to host our Defence
Electronics and Simulation and Training divisions.”
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Innovative high-tech activities at the Bremen
site
The Joint Venture, counting about 160 employees, will continue the following
activities in Bremen: manufacturing of the unmanned reconnaissance system
KZO (Kleinfluggerät Zielortung), which is one of the world’s
most advanced Unmanned Aerial Systems and renders valuable services to
the German Armed Forces.
Work
on the Heron UAS in the SAATEG (system for imagery reconnaissance deep
in the area of operations) programme, which enables the Bundeswehr to
use long-range unmanned reconnaissance systems for the first time. Both
KZO and Heron are already making a significant contribution to protecting
German and allied soldiers today. The joint venture also plays a significant
part in the success of the world’s largest passenger airliner, the
A380, with its cargo loading system in the lower deck. This system made
in Bremen is installed in all A380 aircraft – as well as in several
other Airbus models – and will also be fitted in the Bundeswehr’s
A400M transport aircraft in the future.
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