Alenia Marconi Systems (AMS) was a major

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an integrated defence electronics company and an equal shares

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

between

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

and

Finmeccanica Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian Multinational corporation, multinational company specialising in Aerospace manufacturer, aerospace, arms industry, defence and Information security, securi ...

(now

Leonardo S.p.A. Leonardo S.p.A., formerly Leonardo-Finmeccanica and originally Finmeccanica, is an Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security. Headquartered in Rome, Italy, the company has 180 sites worldwide. It is the eighth ...

) until its dissolution on 3 May 2005. AMS was formed in 1998 by the

merger Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

of GEC-Marconi Radar and Defence Systems and

Alenia Difesa Alenia may refer to: Companies * Alenia Aermacchi, an Italian aeronautics company, founded in 2012 * Alenia Aeronautica, a former Italian aeronautics company, founded in 1990 and merged into Alenia Aermacchi * Alenia Marconi Systems Alenia Marc ...

. Equal shares in the resulting company were then held by Finmeccanica, and GEC-Marconi (later

Marconi Electronic Systems Marconi Electronic Systems (MES), or GEC-Marconi as it was until 1998, was the defence arm of General Electric Company (GEC). It was demerged from GEC and bought by British Aerospace (BAe) on 30 November 1999 to form BAE Systems. GEC then renam ...

(MES)), a division of

The General Electric Company The General Electric Company (GEC) was a major British industrial conglomerate involved in consumer and defence electronics, communications, and engineering. The company was founded in 1886, was Britain's largest private employer with over 250 ...

(GEC). With the

demerger A demerger is a form of corporate restructuring in which the entity's business operations are segregated into one or more components. It is the converse of a merger or acquisition. A demerger can take place through a spin-off by distributed or ...

and subsequent sale of its MES division in 1999, GEC's interest in AMS passed to BAE Systems. In 2001 AMS' missile systems division was merged with

Aerospatiale Matra Missiles Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

and

Matra BAe Dynamics Matra BAe Dynamics was formed in August 1996 by merger of half the missile business of Matra Defense of France and BAe Dynamics (a division of British Aerospace) of the UK and was Europe's largest manufacturer of missiles and UAVs. British Aero ...

to form

MBDA MBDA is a European multinational developer and manufacturer of missiles.MBDA Inc. US Division Cor ...

. On 7 October 2003 the UK holding company for AMS changed its registered name from Alenia Marconi Systems Limited to AMS Limited to comply with the agreements reached regarding use of the name "Marconi" following the sale of Marconi Electronic Systems by GEC (later

Marconi plc Marconi Communications, the former telecommunications arm of Britain's General Electric Company plc (GEC), was founded in August 1998 through the amalgamation of GEC Plessey Telecommunications (GPT) with other GEC subsidiaries: Marconi SpA, GEC ...

). This name change was reflected in

rebranding Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

across the company, although the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

holding company retained the name Alenia Marconi Systems SpA. On 28 January 2005 BAE Systems and Finmeccanica announced the intention to dissolve their partnership in the AMS joint venture with AMS' UK and Italian operations taken over by the respective partners as arranged through the Eurosystems Transaction. On 3 May 2005 the Eurosystems Transaction was finalised: *The UK operations of AMS (minus

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

and communication systems) brought together with the C4ISR division of BAE Systems (minus communication systems) to form the new

BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies BAE Systems Integrated System Technologies (known informally as Insyte) was a division of BAE Systems plc. The division was a major supplier of defence electronics, integrated command and control systems, radars, simulators, meteorological ...

(Insyte) division of BAE Systems. *The Italian operations of AMS (Alenia Marconi Systems SpA) became

SELEX Sistemi Integrati SELEX Sistemi Integrati S.p.A. was an aerospace, defence and security-related electronics manufacturing company headquartered in Rome, Italy and a wholly owned subsidiary of Finmeccanica. It designed and developed systems for homeland security; sy ...

which in turn became

Selex ES Selex ES was a subsidiary of Finmeccanica S.p.A., active in the electronics and information technology business, based in Italy and the UK, and formed in January 2013, following Finmeccanica's decision to combine its existing SELEX Elsag and ...

in January 2013.

Products

*Air traffic control *Air defence systems *Airport infrastructure **Lighting **Meteorological systems *

Command and control Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...

(C²) *Communication systems *

Data link A data link is the means of connecting one location to another for the purpose of transmitting and receiving digital information (data communication). It can also refer to a set of electronics assemblies, consisting of a transmitter and a recei ...

s *Simulators etc. **Aerospace **Military *

Radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, w ...

- Civil and military **Ground **Naval

References

External links

BBC News: Defence merger on the radar (formation)BAE Systems websiteLeonardo website"Forty Years of Marconi Radar from 1946 to 1986", ''GEC Review'', Volume 13, No. 3, 1998
{{General Electric Company plc Defence companies of Italy Defence companies of the United Kingdom Guglielmo Marconi Guided missile manufacturers Technology companies established in 1998 Technology companies disestablished in 2005 it:Alenia Marconi Systems

Products

See also

References

External links