Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
an integrated defence electronics company and an equal shares
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
between
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...
and
Finmeccanica
Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the 12th largest ...
(now Leonardo S.p.A.) until its dissolution on 3 May 2005.
AMS was formed in 1998 by the
merger
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of a company, business organization, or one of their operating units is transferred to or consolidated with another entity. They may happen through direct absorpt ...
Marconi Electronic Systems
Marconi Electronic Systems Limited (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was split off from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC ...
demerger
A demerger is a form of corporate restructuring in which the entity's business operations are segregated into one or more components. It is the converse of a Mergers and acquisitions, merger or acquisition.
A demerger can take place through a cor ...
and subsequent sale of its MES division in 1999, GEC's interest in AMS passed to BAE Systems.
In 2001 AMS' missile systems division was merged with Aerospatiale Matra Missiles and
Matra BAe Dynamics
Matra BAe Dynamics was an Anglo-French 50/50 joint venture formed in August 1996 through a merger between half the missile business of France's Matra Hautes Technologies (the aerospace, defence and telecommunications division of the Matra conglo ...
to form
MBDA
MBDA is a European multinational corporation specialized in the design, development and manufacturing of Missile, missiles and related systems.UK holding company for AMS changed its registered name from Alenia Marconi Systems Limited to AMS Limited to comply with the agreements reached regarding use of the name "Marconi" following the sale of Marconi Electronic Systems by GEC (later Marconi plc). This name change was reflected in
rebranding
Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
across the company, although the
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
holding company retained the name Alenia Marconi Systems SpA.
On 28 January 2005 BAE Systems and Finmeccanica announced the intention to dissolve their partnership in the AMS joint venture with AMS' UK and Italian operations taken over by the respective partners as arranged through the Eurosystems Transaction. On 3 May 2005 the Eurosystems Transaction was finalised:
*The UK operations of AMS (minus
air traffic control
Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...
and communication systems) brought together with the C4ISR division of BAE Systems (minus communication systems) to form the new BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (Insyte) division of BAE Systems.
*The Italian operations of AMS (Alenia Marconi Systems SpA) became SELEX Sistemi Integrati which in turn became Selex ES in January 2013.
Products
*Air traffic control
*Air defence systems
*Airport infrastructure
**Lighting
**Meteorological systems
* Command and control (C²)
*Communication systems
*
Data link
A data link is a means of telecommunications link, connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a t ...
s
*Simulators etc.
**Aerospace
**Military
*
Radar
Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
- Civil and military
**Ground
**Naval
See also
*
Alenia Aeronautica
Alenia Aeronautica was an Italian aerospace company. Its subsidiary, subsidiaries included Aermacchi, Alenia Aermacchi and Alenia Aeronavali.
Alenia Aeronautica was also the part-owner of ATR (aircraft manufacturer), ATR, a joint venture with E ...