Hensoldt and Leonardo are two very different defense companies. One has its headquarters on the edge of a forest in Taufkirchen near Munich and has recently turned over 1.7 billion euros a year with its sensors for the defense industry. The other, the armaments company Leonardo, founded in 1948 as Finmeccanica, is ten times the size of Hensoldt, supplies the armaments and aerospace industries and is based in the posh Piazza Monte Grappa in the center of Rome, just a few meters from the Tiber shore away. Two companies, two cultures, and yet the different partners concluded a cooperation for new electronic weapon systems more than a year ago. “We have to act on a European basis, otherwise we will no longer take place as Europe at some point,” said Hensoldt boss Thomas Müller in an SZ interview at the end of February. The insight behind this is as simple as it is plausible: After the Russian attack on Ukraine, it is not enough to turning point in defense policy and to offer a special fund of 100 billion euros for the Bundeswehr. Europe must build its own efficient defense policy, but to do so it must overcome national sensibilities and vanities.
Europe’s armaments companies must cooperate more – Economy
