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Aviation History
2002
2002 - 2494.PDF
BUSINESS RESULTS Thales sees revenue rise French aerospace and defence group Thales has reported rev enues up 15% in the first half of 2002, mainly due to increased defence sales and acquisitions. Company sales topped €4.98 billion ($4.84 billion) in the six months to 30 June. Aerospace, information technologies and ser vices sales were flat, but defence sales rose 29% to €2.9 billion over the first half of 2001. Thales took complete control of AD I, Thales Underwater Systems, Thales ATM and Thales Navigation, in all of which it was previously a majority shareholder. Without these consolidations, revenues grew only 9.5%, mainly due to strong growth in air defence, naval and airborne sys tems, the company says. Thales has profited from the 2000 acquisition of Racal for £1.8 billion ($2.7 billion), which made it a leading military radar and defence electronics manu facturer. But this left Thales with significant debt and it has revealed neither its profits for the period nor the extent of its efforts to improve its balance sheet. If it has maintained its 6% operating margin, it will have a €299 million operating profit for the first half. RESULTS Aerosonde plunges Troubled Australian unmanned air vehicle (UAV) manufacturer Aerosonde has reported net operating losses totalling AS2.8 million ($1.5 million) for the 2001-02 finan cial year despite recording a AS519.000 fourth quarter profit. Net income for the year was A$4.3 million, A$2 million generated during fourth quar ter trading. Aerosonde shares remain suspended on the Australian Stock Exchange pending completion of a takeover and delisting by former directors and Saab Systems. ACQUISITION GRAHAM WARWICK / WASHINGTON DC Think-tank boosts L-3's profile US company hopes purchase will make it "major presence on network-centric battlefield" L-3 Communications has boosted its hopes of becoming a major player in network-centric warfare programmes by acquiring ComCept, a designer of architec tures for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems. L-3 is a major supplier of ISR products and the acquisition of the small but influential US think-tank will add system development and integration capabilities. ComCept "has the roadmap to the ISR future", says L-3 chairman and chief executive Frank Lanza. Its capabilities are "complementary and synergistic" with the ISR focus at L-3's Communications Systems and Integrated Systems sectors, he says. "When we add this centre piece to our existing complemen tary businesses, we...become a major presence on the network- centric battlefield." The deal will particularly benefit Integrated Systems, formed follow ing the SI.13 billion acquisition of Aircraft Integrated Systems (AIS) from Raytheon earlier this year. AIS is a major player in the modifica tion of aircraft for specialised mis sions, and ComCept works with Big Safari, the project office respon sible for the US Air Force's special mission aircraft, including EC-130 Compass Call electronic warfare and RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic intelligence aircraft. Rockwall, Texas-based ComCept capabilities include requirements development, modeling, simulation and systems integration. L-3 describes the company's network- centric collaborative targeting tech nology as a "key enabler" for the USAF's Multi-Mission Command and Control Aircraft, a potential 60-aircraft programme to replace the E-3 Sentry early warning aircraft and E-8 Joint STARS airborne surveillance aircraft. The AIS acquisition gave prod ucts-based L-3 an integration capa bility for the first time. "We do not build aircraft or missiles, so we needed a way to integrate our prod ucts for customers who do not want to buy just products," says Lanza. The ComCept acquisition fulfils what he says is the next step, to "add some upfront requirements analysis, modeling and simulation to AIS" - a capability he jokingly dubs the "L-Works" in a reference to Boeing's Phantom Works and Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works. ComCept was formed by Brian Cullen, formerly chairman of Ray theon E-Systems (which later became AIS). Cullen will stay as division president. The terms of the acquisition have not been dis closed, but L-3 says ComCept is profitable, with projected 2003 rev enues of S24 million. RESTRUCTURING Lufthansa reviews Team while it shapes up low-cost Germanwings Eurowings will produce Germanwings if Lufthansa's plans go ahead Lufthansa is reviewing its partner regional carriers as it confirms plans for a new low-fare carrier to be called Germanwings. The German flag carrier says it has launched a full review of its busi ness model. Wholly and partly owned subsidiaries and other air lines will operate thinner routes under the Lufthansa brand. The review will probably also decide whether to exercise the right to double its stake in regional air line Eurowings to 49.8%. Under the new strategy, Lufthansa will allow Eurowings to use the German wings brand, which the carrier acquired after the collapse of a com petitor, for its domestic low-cost operation due to be launched in late October. Germanwings will start with Eurowings' charter fleet of five Airbus A319 and may acquire more next year to add to its network of 15 European routes from its Cologne Bonn base. Brussels-based budget carrier Virgin Express is also due to start flights out of Cologne Bonn this autumn. Lufthansa will soon decide on a replacement for its 60-aircraft order for Fairchild Dornier 728 regional jets, which it cancelled as Fairchild Dornier slipped further into bank ruptcy. Eurowings is likely to take on the aircraft, originally intended for Lufthansa's CityLine subsidiary, and perhaps CityLine's 18 BAe Avro RJ85s. The group's reorganisation is likely to centre on gaining opera tional efficiencies from the various airlines in Team Lufthansa - Augsburg Airways, Cimber Air, Cirrus Airlines, CityLine, Contact Air and Eurowings in Germany, and Italy's Air Dolomiti, in which Lufthansa holds 20.7%. 18 20-26 AUGUST 2002 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL www.flightinternational.com
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