European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), major European aerospace company that builds commercial and military aircraft, space systems, propulsion systems, missiles, and other defense products. It was formed in 2000 from the merger of three leading European aerospace firms: Aerospatiale Matra of France, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (Dasa) of Germany, and Construcciones Aeronáuticas S.A. (CASA) of Spain. Headquarters are in Paris, France, and Munich, Germany.
Measured by sales, EADS is the third largest aerospace company in the world (after Boeing and Lockheed Martin). It holds an 80 percent share in the consortium Airbus Industrie and is responsible for the final assembly of Airbus aircraft. EADS has a controlling interest in the joint venture Astrium (created 2000), the first trinational space company, whose facilities in France, Germany, and Great Britain cover a full spectrum of the space business from ground systems and launch vehicles to satellites and orbital infrastructure. Its Eurocopter subsidiary develops, builds, and markets a comprehensive range of military and civil helicopters. EADS also has stakes in Arianespace, which markets the commercial services of the Ariane family of launch vehicles; the Eurofighter consortium to develop a multirole combat aircraft; Avions de Transport Régionale (ATR), a leading maker of regional turboprop aircraft; and the French aerospace firm Dassault, which builds the Mirage and Rafale families of fighters as well as Falcon business jets. In 2001 EADS, BAE Systems, and Italy’s Finmeccanica group agreed to combine the missiles and missile-systems activities of their subsidiaries Matra BAe Dynamics, EADS Aerospatiale Matra Missiles, and Alenia Marconi Systems into a single pan-European corporate entity with the name MBDA. At the start of the 21st century the company employed some 100,000 people at more than 90 locations.
Aerospatiale Matra was formed in 1999 from the merger of Aerospatiale (Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale) with Matra Hautes Technologies, a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group. Aerospatiale’s history dates to 1936, when France’s leading aircraft makers were nationalized and combined into six companies according to their geographic locations. Through successive mergers and renamings, four of the six became two companies and then one, Sud Aviation, which was formed in 1957. The remaining two, following integration and amalgamation with a third partner, became Nord Aviation in 1958. Sud Aviation achieved great success internationally with the Caravelle medium-range jetliner and the Alouette helicopter series. It also served as the initial French partner for the Concorde supersonic transport, developed in the 1960s and ’70s with the United Kingdom. In order to improve efficiency by avoiding duplication of effort, Nord Aviation, Sud Aviation, and French missile maker SEREB (Société pour l’Étude et la Réalisation d’Engins Balistiques) were merged in 1970 to form Aerospatiale. Two years later Aerospatiale joined Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm GmbH (later DaimlerChrysler Aerospace) with its subsidiary Lenkflugkörper GmbH to form Euromissile. Successful guided missile systems developed by Euromissile include the medium-range Milan and long-range HOT antitank weapons and the Roland air-defense missile.
Although its codevelopment of the Concorde never brought Aerospatiale the financial success that it had expected, its participation in Airbus Industrie did. In 1970 Aerospatiale became a founding partner of Airbus, in which it first held a 50 percent share and later a 37.9 percent stake. Formed to fill a market niche for a high-capacity, short-haul jet transport, the consortium eventually became the second largest maker of commercial aircraft in the world (Boeing Company is first).
In 1981 Aerospatiale and Italy’s Aeritalia (predecessor of Alenia Aerospazio) merged their designs for a turboprop regional aircraft and formed ATR as a 50-50 joint venture to develop, market, and support regional transport aircraft. ATR developed a family of high-wing, twin-turboprop aircraft in the 40–70 seat range based the ATR 42, its first product (entered service 1985), and the later ATR 72 (1989). In 1992 Aerospatiale and Deutsche Aerospace (later DaimlerChrysler Aerospace) merged their helicopter divisions to form the common subsidiary Eurocopter, which became wholly owned by EADS in 2000. Eurocopter was a leading manufacturer of civil helicopters and also expanded in the military market with its Tiger combat helicopter and NH-90 transport helicopter. In 1998 the French government transferred ownership of its 45.76 percent stake in Dassault Aviation to Aerospatiale (the remainder being privately held by founder Marcel Dassault’s heirs and financiers).
Matra (Mécanique Aviation Traction), Aerospatiale Matra’s other line of heritage, was founded in 1945. In 1951 a Matra-built aircraft was the first in Europe to break the sound barrier, and in the 1960s the company emerged as a prime European contractor for satellites. In 1990 Matra merged its space activities with GEC-Marconi’s aerospace division to form MMS, which in 1994 expanded through its acquisition of British Aerospace Space Systems.
In 1992 Matra merged with the French media company Hachette to become, as Matra Hautes Technologies, part of the Lagardère Group. The missile activities of Matra and British Aerospace (later BAE Systems) were combined in 1996 in a 50-50 joint venture named Matra BAe Dynamics. In 1998 the French government announced a plan to partially privatize Aerospatiale and combine it with Matra Hautes Technologies. The following year the transformation was completed with the formation of Aerospatiale Matra. The French government received a 48 percent share of Aerospatiale Matra and the Lagardère Group a 33 percent share, with the rest in public and employee ownership.