EADS studying small US acquisitions, new alliances with US groups

PARIS (AFP) Jun 25, 2003
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company is seeking to enter the US defence market through small US company acquisitions and new alliances with US groups, the chairman of EADS North America Ralph Crosby said Wednesday in an interview with French daily Les Echos.

The company is studying several potential acquisitions of small US defence companies, "of which three are well-advanced," Crosby was quoted as saying.

Crosby also said the group was looking to forge new alliances with US peers like Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, and aims to strike an alliance with one of these groups for refuelling US Air Force planes, a market currently dominated by Boeing.

EADS was particularly interested in the areas of defence network systems, anti-terrorism and drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), he said.

EADS North America expects internal sales growth of 10 percent annually, he added.

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