Aérospatiale (French pronunciation:[aeʁɔspasjal]) was a major French state-owned aerospace and defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale (English: National Aerospace Industrial Company) through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation and SEREB.[1] The company was headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.[2][3]
During its existence, Aérospatiale was one of the world’s largest aerospace companies. It was Europe's biggest general aeronautics manufacturer and its leading exporter in the industry.[4][5][6] Its activies covered civilian and military airplanes and helicopters; launch vehicles and spacecraft; as well both strategic and tactical weapon systems, from intercontinental ballistic missiles to man-portable anti-tank guided missile systems. The company was also prominently involved in many high-profile multinational programmes such as the Concorde supersonic airliner, the Ariane series of launch vehicles, and the Airbus A300, the world's first twin-engined widebody airliner.
As a consequence of the peace dividend following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, much of the European aerospace and defence industry began to consolidate, with Aérospatiale's break-up accelerated by the French government's efforts to privatize many state-owned companies. In 1992, Aérospatiale and Germany's DASA each spun off their helicopter businesses, which merged together to form the Eurocopter Group, with the two parent companies holding 70% and 30% ownership of the new entity respectively.[7][8][9] Eurocopter would later be renamed Airbus Helicopters. In 1999, the Aérospatiale's satellite manufacturing division was acquired by Alcatel to form Alcatel Space, later renamed Thales Alenia Space.
Aérospatiale's remaining assets were merged with the aerospace, defence and telecommunications division of the French conglomerate Matra (Matra Hautes Technologies) to form Aérospatiale-Matra in July 2000. One year later, in 2001, Aérospatiale-Matra merged with DASA and Spain's Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), later rebranded Airbus. The majority of Aérospatiale's assets are thus now part of Airbus or its related joint ventures.
History
Formation
Former head office on the Boulevard de Montmorency
In 1970, Aérospatiale was created under the name Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale as a result of the merger of several French state-owned companies - Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation and Société d'étude et de réalisation d'engins balistiques (SEREB). The newly formed entity was the largest aerospace company in France. From the onset, the French government owned a controlling stake in Aérospatiale; at one stage, a 97 per cent ownership of the company was held by the government.[10]
In 1971, Aérospatiale was managed by the French industrialist Henri Ziegler; that same year, the firm's North American marketing and sales arm, which had previously operated under the trading name of the French Aerospace Corporation, was officially rebranded as the European Aerospace Corporation, which was intended to better reflect Aérospatiale's increasing focus on collaborative efforts with its European partners.[11]
Major activities
Many of Aérospatiale's initial programmes were holdovers from its predecessors, particularly those of Sud Aviation.[10] Perhaps the most high-profile of these programmes was Concorde, a joint French-British attempt to develop and market a supersonic commercial airliner. Initial work on this project had begun at Sud Aviation and the Bristol Aeroplane Company, its British counterpart.[10] The engines for Concorde were also developed as a joint Anglo-French effort between SNECMA and Bristol Siddeley. However, the programme was highly politicised and encountered considerable cost overruns and delays.[10] Ultimately, it was negatively affected equally by bad political decisions and an oil crisis in the 1970s; thus, only two airlines purchased Concorde.[10]
Aérospatiale's senior management were keen to avoid the mistakes of the Concorde program.[10] Their next major effort would be a transnational consortium with British Aerospace and the West German's aircraft company Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB). The British would eventually withdraw from the discussions, but the French and West Germans would proceed and form Airbus Industrie GIE. It was established with the purpose of building a twin-engined widebody airliner, known as the A300.[10] At first, it was difficult to achieve sales and the outlook for the A300 seemed negative. However, Aérospatiale continued to manufacture the airliner without orders, as it could not reasonably cut back production as French law required that laid-off employees were to receive 90 per cent of their pay for a year as well as to retain their health benefits throughout.[10]
Sales of the A300 picked up and the type eventually became a major commercial success, subsequently driving both the AmericanLockheed L-1011 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 from the market due to its cheaper operating model.[10] On the back of this success, further airliners would be produced under the Airbus brand and the company would become a world leader in the field of large commercial aircraft during the 1990s.[10]
Aérospatiale played a leading role in the development of the European space sector.[10] During the 1960s, Sud Aviation had been involved in a multinational European programme to produce the Europa space launch vehicle, this being a three-stage rocket with the separate stages being manufactured in Britain, France, and Germany respectively. However, all of the flight tests conducted were failures; the programme's misfortune has been attributed to there being no central authority responsible for operations. This came as a result of the issue of workshare becoming highly politicized.
When Aérospatiale stepped in, in 1973, it was determined not to repeat the mistakes of Europa.[10] The company proposed to build a new heavy launch vehicle, which would later be called the Ariane, to take the place of Europa. While other European nations were invited to participate, it would be French officials who would hold primary responsibility, and thus, make the most important decisions.[10] This approach was agreed upon with several other nations; during 1979.
Ariane was an immediate success, allowing the French to gain a strong advantage over the United States, which had centred its efforts on the Space Shuttle. However, the Challenger disaster during 1986 showed that it was too complex for routine use as a satellite launch platform.[10] Aérospatiale went on to develop more capable versions of the Ariane, which took much of the business of space launches away from the Americans during the 1990s.[10]
Privatisation and mergers
In 1992, Aérospatiale and the German defense company DaimlerBenz Aerospace AG (DASA) combined their respective helicopter divisions together to form the Eurocopter Group; ownership of this new entity was shared (70% and 30% respectively) between the two parent companies.[12]
^Henri Lluch, L'établissement de Marignane : de la SNCASE à l'Aerospatiale, Éditeur : Aerospatiale, établissement de Marignane, 1991, 185 pages.
^Who owns whom: Continental Europe, Volume 1. Dun & Bradstreet., 1990. 555. Retrieved from Google Books on 31 August 2011. "SA NATIONALE INDUSTRIELLE AÉROSPATIALE 372 1 . 3724 SA, 37 Boulevard de Montmorency, F-75016 Paris"
^"Offices and facilities" (Archive). Aerospatiale. Retrieved on 31 August 2011. "HEADQUARTERS PARIS Aerospatiale 37, boulevard de Montmorency - 75781 Paris cedex 16 "
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