Hensoldt boss Thomas Müller wants to use acquisitions to expand the radar and sensor manufacturer into one of Europe’s leading defense electronics companies. The most obvious thing would be to take over the defense electronics of the Italian major shareholder Leonardo, as Müller said in the Munich Business Press Club. “That would be a possible way forward” and also conceivable in the short term, he made clear. While a few defense companies dominate the market in the USA, the European industry is considered to be highly fragmented. Müller said that Hensoldt wanted to actively consolidate the industry and not be swallowed up.
“In the long term we have to be on an equal footing with the Americans,” added Müller. As specialists for the evaluation of battlefield data with artificial intelligence (AI), he sees the German group in a good starting position. At the state-controlled Leonardo, which holds 25.1 percent in Hensoldt, the former energy transition minister Roberto Cingolani is to replace Alessandro Profumo as CEO according to the will of the government in Rome. “You can also talk to Thales,” said Müller, referring to the larger French armaments group – even if France sees defense as a strategic industry. “France will eventually bow to the normative force of the factual, that you can’t do everything alone,” said the Hensoldt boss.
Müller’s designated successor, Oliver Dörre, who is to take over the post in less than a year, comes from Thales’ Germany subsidiary. Domestic mergers are also possible. “There are also areas of Rheinmetall with which we could work well together,” said Müller. Hensoldt is in an intensive exchange with the federal government and with Leonardo. The federal government is the second major shareholder of Hensoldt via the state bank KfW, also with 25.1 percent. The armaments industry has boomed since Russia attacked Ukraine. Hensoldt hopes for orders worth billions from the 100 billion euro special fund for the Bundeswehr. The war in Ukraine shows the importance of electronic warfare, to which Hensoldt contributes the radars for the Iris-T air defense system. Only thanks to modern technology can Ukraine defend itself against a numerically superior opponent, said former Bundeswehr officer Müller. The 100 billion program will help fill gaps in equipment and provide planning security, said Müller.