20 May 03. VT (formerly Vosper Thornycroft) announced preliminary results for the year ended 31 Mar 03. Turnover was £565m (£479m in 2002), with profit before tax of £41.5m (£37.5m). The order book at year end was £2,000m (£1,500m). Comment: VT is now organised in two Divisions: Support Services (75% of turnover) and Shipbuilding (25%). The remaining elements of the former Marine Products Division have been absorbed within Support Services. Recent acquisitions, of Merlin Communications in the UK and Griffin Services in the US, have assisted VT’s diversification into a predominantly Support Services supplier. (Source: DNA DEFENCE NEWS ANALYSIS Issue 03/2, 22 Jun 03)
2 Jun 03. Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer (Sao Paolo:EMBR4.SA – News; NYSE:ERJ – News) will build its first U.S. plant in Jacksonville, Florida, to produce aircraft for the defense market in the United States, located at Cecil Commerce Center, and be fully qualify the company as a compliant U.S. government supplier for defense and homeland security programs.

14 May 03. With effect from 14th May 2003, BAE SYSTEMS-IFS Ltd changes its name to IFS Defence Ltd. This change reflects IFS Defence’s role today as the primary conduit for sales of IFS Applications into the defence market worldwide.
IFS Defence will retain the same ownership structure, with a 50/50 holding from IFS and BAE SYSTEMS, continuing to combine strong financial backing with leading-edge software technology. However, as IFS Applications has become established as the product of choice for defence logistics solutions globally, so the company has become synonymous with IFS.

27 May 03. Bombardier reported a sharp fall in first-quarter profits, hit by weak demand for business aircraft and the soaring Canadian dollar. Net income fell to C$80.7m ($59m) from C$197.2m a year ago, on revenues down to C$4.9bn from C$5.1bn last time. Earnings per share fell to five Canadian cents, down from 14 cents aa penny ahead of analysts’ estimates.

16 May 03. ComDef 2003 – Sept 3rd – Washington, DC. ComDef 2003, 18th conference in the Common Defense series, addresses the issues of “Coalitions and Partners” relative to transformation, budgets, force structure, operations, equipment, production, modernization, and inter-operability.