The EADS Defence and Security Systems (DS) Division has been reorganised in order to further promote integration and increase efficiency, with the aim being for the Division to focus more intensively on its national customers and markets. In the new structure, there will be a balance between national tasks and operational units: in addition to their operational tasks, the DS Board members will also assume responsibility for divisional transversal tasks such as national key accounts or divisional central units like the System Design Centre, thus providing a respective central point of contact for national customers. Furthermore, by relocating the System Design Centre to division level, it will be more accessible for all the DS and EADS Business Units.
The organizational structures in the Defence and Communications Systems and Defence Electronics Business Units are also being streamlined. And following on from the considerable expansion of the Military Aircraft Business Unit portfolio in 2005, it is now being supplemented by an optimized structure and the new name — Military Air Systems. In the field of missiles, LFK will be integrated into MBDA in which EADS, together with BAE Systems and Finmeccanica, continues to be a shareholder, along with Eurofighter GmbH.
Explaining the rational behind the restructuring, Stefan Zoller, a member of the Executive Committee of EADS and CEO of Defence & Security Systems, stated, “We need to become more profitable and DS must generate more growth. At the same time, we are confronted with stagnant budgets in EADS’ home markets, and the pressure from competitors in our export markets has risen sharply. In the future, we intend to grow in a profitable manner, both organisationally and by actively participating in the consolidation process of our industry. DS will thus be better prepared to make a significant contribution to EADS’ results in the future.”