Hopes To Build Business In U.S. Military Market

European Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. (EADS) is looking to build business in the worlds largest military market by seeking U.S. companies to buy. “What we look for is value -- today it can be anything up to a half a billion dollars,” Ralph Crosby said in an interview at the Paris Air Show. Crosby leads the EADS unit dealing with all non-Airbus activities directed at the military, federal, and homeland security markets.

Bloomberg News reports EADS expects U.S. sales to more than triple, growing to %1.5 billion in the coming year. The company's success has come primarily in helicopters, with orders for up to 322 Light Utility Helicopters to be used primarily for border patrol, evacuation, and drug interdiction. It beat rival Bell Helicopter for a lucrative contract to build helicopters for the U.S. Military worth $1.7 billion in 2005. Along with North American Partner Northrop Grumman, EADS is in direct competition with Boeing on an aerial refueling aircraft contract which was just turned back for re-bid. Boeing says it will re-structure it's tanker proposal based on the 777 airframe, rather than the smaller 767.  EADS bid is  based on an Airbus A330-200. “It doesn’t change anything,” Crosby said of Boeing’s latest considerations. “We know what our offer is. We’ve completed against Boeing five times and we’ve won five times, because of the size, because of the inherent capability and most important because of the maturity” of EADS’s offering, Bloomberg reported.

Still, given the state of the world economy, EADS is limiting its U.S. acquisition targets to $500 million. The company had gone after two larger properties in the last year, but its board chose instead to preserve cash, EADS Chief Operating Officer Marwan Lahoud said June 13.

FMI: www.eads.com