12 Nov 02. In an arbitration between Euromissile (EADS Group) and a member of the Thales Group of companies, the Arbitration Panel has awarded Euromissile a total amount of €108m. The existence of this dispute had been referred to in the Thales annual report and a related reserve provided in the consolidated accounts, albeit less than the amount finally awarded. The maximum impact on Thales 2002 financial results would be €65m before tax at the operating income level, i.e. €43m after tax. Thales has taken legal steps to reverse this award which it considers to be ill-founded. The exact accounting impact of this decision, which Thales considers to be extraordinary in many respects, will be determined by the Board of Directors based on the legal situation at the time of the approval of Thales’ annual accounts.
21 Nov 02. Lockheed Martin has selected Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. to design, develop, manufacture and test the Communications, Navigation, and Identification (CNI) integrated body antenna suite for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). The JSF antenna suite will include one S-Band, two UHF, two Radar Altimeter, and three L-band antennas per aircraft.
21 Nov 02. L-3 Communications (NYSE: LLL – News) announced today that on November 8, 20002 it acquired International Microwave Corporation (IMC), a global communications company that provides wireless communications, network support systems, information technology, defense communications and enhanced surveillance systems. The total value of the transaction is approximately $40m in cash, with additional contingent consideration not to exceed $5m dependent upon the financial performance of IMC in 2003. The acquisition is expected to contribute approximately $50m to L-3’s sales in 2003.
19 Nov 02. In a first for the telecommunications industry, Marconi (MONI) will publicly demonstrate OC-192c (10 Gbps) ATM data transfer rates over its leading 480 Gbps BXR(r)-48000 multiservice switch-router at the 15th annual SC2002 conference. Marconi’s demonstration at SC2002, a conference of high- performance computing, networking and data technologies, will model a global supercomputing grid that expands the bandwidth available to both legacy and next-generation packet-based networks for secure, high-speed transport of mission-critical information. Demands on a global supercomputing grid include secure high-speed transport of encrypted data, real-time, high-definition video steams, distributed supercomputing, and the integration of large storage files with real-time, multi-channel virtual presence and collaborative decision-making tools.
22 Nov 02. DRS Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: DRS – News) has sold its DRS Advanced Programs unit for approximately $7m in cash, subject to adjustment, to a group of investors including the unit’s former management. The company realized no material gain or loss from the sale. DRS Advanced Programs produces custom-packaged TEMPEST computers, servers and peripheral products for worldwide deployment, serving certain government intelligence agency applications. DRS Advanced Programs will continue operations at its current Columbia, Maryland location.
22 Nov 02. European aerospace consortium Eurofighter said on Friday deliveries of the long-awaited Typhoon fighter jet would begin at the end of 2002 despite the crash of a prototype a day earlier. Europe’s biggest military aircraft collaboration suffered its first crash on Thursday in central Spain just weeks before the UK, Germany, Italy and Spain are set to receive production versions for testing.
22 Nov 02. The German government will reduce its order for Airbus A400M transport aircraft to 60 from 73, Bild-Zeitung reports. “There are clear signs that we will reduce to 60,” the newspaper quotes Rainer Arnold, the defense spokesman for the ruling Social Democratic Party’s parliamentary group, as saying. European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co. is the main contractor for the European projec