Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale, sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale (SNIAS). Its head office was in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The name was changed to Aérospatiale during 1970.
During the 1990s, Aérospatiale underwent several significant restructures and mergers. Its helicopter division was, along with Germany's DaimlerBenz Aerospace AG (DASA), combined to form the Eurocopter Group. In 1999, the majority of Aérospatiale, except for its satellite activities, merged with French conglomerate Matra's defense wing, Matra Haute Technologie, to form Aérospatiale-Matra. That same year, the satellite manufacturing division merged with Alcatel to become Alcatel Space, now Thales Alenia Space. In 2001, Aérospatiale-Matra merged with Spanish aviation company Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) and German defense firm DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) to form the multinational European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). Currently, the majority of the former assets of the company are part of the multinational Airbus consortium.
History
Formation
During 1970, Aérospatiale was created under the name SNIAS 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.
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.
Major activities
Many of Aérospatiale's initial programmes were holdovers from its predecessors, particularly those of Sud Aviation. 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. 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. Ultimately, it was negatively affected equally by bad political decisions and an oil crisis in the 1970s; thus, only two airlines purchased Concorde.
Aérospatiale's senior management were keen to avoid the mistakes of the Concorde program. Their next major effort was would be an international consortium between British Aerospace and West German's aircraft company Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm (MBB), called Airbus Industries.
This was established with the purpose of building a twin-engined widebody airliner, known as the A300. While 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.
Sales of the A300 picked up and the type eventually became a major commercial success, subsequently driving both the American Lockheed L-1011 and the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 from the market due to its cheaper operating model. 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.
Aérospatiale played a leading role in the development of the European space sector. 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, during 1973, it was determined not to repeat the mistakes of Europa. 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. 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. 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.
Privatisation and mergers
In 1992, German defense company DaimlerBenz Aerospace AG (DASA) and Aérospatiale combined their respective helicopter divisions together to form the Eurocopter Group; ownership of this new entity was shared between the two parent companies.
During the late 1990s, French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's Plural Left government initiated a policy towards the privatization of Aérospatiale. In 1999, the majority of Aérospatiale, except for the satellites activities, merged with French conglomerate Matra's defense wing, Matra Haute Technologie, to form Aérospatiale-Matra. During 2001, Aérospatiale-Matra's missile division underwent a further merger with Anglo-French outfit Matra BAe Dynamics and the missile division of Alenia Marconi Systems to form the multinational MBDA entity.
On 10 July 2000, Aérospatiale-Matra merged with Spanish aviation company Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) and German defense firm DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA) to form the multinational European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). EADS would later rebrand itself as Airbus Military, taking the name of its commercial aircraft division, its primary business.
Products
Fixed-wing aircraft
CM.170 Magister
CM.175 Zephyr
Concorde (with British Aircraft Corporation)
N.262
N.500
SE 210 Caravelle
SN 601 Corvette
TB 30 Epsilon
Ludion
Helicopters
AS 332 Super Puma
AS 350 Ecureuil/AStar
AS 355 Ecureuil 2/TwinStar
AS 532 Cougar
AS 550 Fennec
AS 565 Panther
SA 313/SA 318 Alouette II
SA 315B Lama
SA 316/SA 319 Alouette III
SA 321 Super Frelon
SA 330 Puma
SA 341/SA 342 Gazelle
SA 360 Dauphin
SA 365/AS365 Dauphin 2
HH-65 Dolphin
Unmanned aerial vehicles
C.22
Missiles
AS 15 TT
AS-20
AS-30
M1 (missile)
M20 (missile)
M45 (missile)
S1 (missile)
S2 (missile)
S3 (missile)
SS.11
SS.12/AS.12
Air-Sol Moyenne Portée
ENTAC
Exocet
Hadès (missile)
HOT (missile)
MILAN
Pluton (missile)
Roland (missile)
Space-related products
AMC-5 (satellite)
Arabsat (satellite)
Arabsat-1A
Arabsat-1B
Ariane rocket
Ariane 1
Ariane 2
Ariane 3
Ariane 4
Ariane 5
Astra 5A (satellite)
Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator
Diamant (rocket)
Hermes spaceplane (not built)
Huygens (spacecraft)
Infrared Space Observatory
INSAT-1C (satellite)
INSAT-2DT (satellite)
Meteosat (satellite)
Nahuel 1A (satellite)
Proteus (satellite)
Spacebus (satellite)
Symphonie (satellite) (satellite)
Tele-X (satellite)
Turksat (satellite)
Turksat 1A
Turksat 1B
Turksat 1C
Topaze (sounding rocket)
TV-SAT 1 (satellite)
List of CEOs
1970-1973 : Henri Ziegler
1973-1975 : Charles Cristofini
1975-1983 : général Jacques Mitterrand, the brother of François Mitterrand
Henri Martre (1983 - 1992)
Louis Gallois (1992 - 1996)
See also
Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA
References
Citations
Bibliography
External links
Helis.com
Aerospace companies of France
Aircraft manufacturers of France
Manufacturing companies established in 1970
Helicopter manufacturers of France
French brands
Privatized companies of France
1999 mergers and acquisitions
Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1999
French companies disestablished in 1999
French companies established in 1970