Hensoldt AG ''(HENSOLDT)'' is a multinational corporation headquartered in Germany which focuses on sensor technologies for protection and surveillance missions in the defence,

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

and

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astr ...

sectors. The main product areas are radar, optoelectronics and

avionics Avionics (a blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the hundreds of systems that are fi ...

. Hensoldt’s main office is in Taufkirchen near Munich, Germany. On 25 September 2020, HENSOLDT AG was listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange at an issue price of 12.00 euros. Based on the issue price, the market capitalisation amounted to 1.26 billion euros.

History

The company originated from the electronics business unit of the defence division of the

Airbus 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: '' ...

Group. At the end of February 2017, Airbus sold this business unit to the US financial investor

KKR KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strateg ...

for 1.1 billion euros.Arno Schuetze and Sabine Siebold (September 5, 2019)
KKR to sell or float German defence supplier Hensoldt: sources
'' Reuters''. Since December 2020, Federal Republic of Germany holds a minimum share, which is managed by the Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg). Since 2017, the company has been known as Hensoldt. The company’s name can be traced back to Moritz Carl Hensoldt (1821-1903), a German pioneer of optics and precision mechanics in the 19th century. In 1852, he founded an optical workshop for telescopes, astronomical equipment and microscopes. In 2019, media reported that KKR is in the process of preparing for a listing of 20-30% on the stock exchange or a sale of Hensoldt.

Corporate structure

The Hensoldt Group’s holding structure includes the following direct and indirect operating subsidiaries (as of September 2019): * Hensoldt Sensors GmbH, Taufkirchen, Germany * Hensoldt Optronics GmbH,

Oberkochen Oberkochen is a municipality (officially a town, despite its size) in the Ostalbkreis, in Baden-Württemberg, in Germany, central Europe. Name The name "Oberkochen" consists of the two German words "ober", meaning "above" or "upper", and " Ko ...

, Germany * Hensoldt UK Ltd., Enfield, United Kingdom. formerly

Kelvin Hughes Hensoldt UK, formerly Kelvin Hughes, is a British company specialising in the design and manufacture of navigation and surveillance systems and a supplier of navigational data to both the commercial marine and government marketplace. The company ...

* Hensoldt SAS,

Plaisir Plaisir () is a commune located in the heart of the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris. It borders among others on Élancourt (south), Tra ...

, France *

Nexeya Nexeya is a French company specialising in the design and development of electronic equipment for the aeronautics, defence, energy, rail, and aerospace sectors. With more than 800 employees, its primary establishments are located in Toulouse, Mas ...

SAS,

Châtenay-Malabry Châtenay-Malabry () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located 10.8 km (6.7 mi) from the center of Paris. The French writer Chateaubriand lived in the estate ''Vallée-aux-Loups'' at Châtenay-Malabry. The Ga ...

, France * EuroAvionics Holding GmbH, Pforzheim, Germany * Hensoldt Australia Pty Ltd,

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ...

, Australia. formerly IE Asia-Pacific Pty Ltd. * Hensoldt South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa. formerly Hensoldt Optronics (Pty) Ltd. and GEW Technologies (Pty) Ltd. * Hensoldt Pvt Ltd,

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

, India * Hensoldt Inc., Vienna, Virginia, United States * Hensoldt Netherlands Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Activities

Radar

Hensoldt develops and manufactures radar systems for the purposes of surveillance,

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmishers ...

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

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

. These radars are used on such platforms as the Eurofighter, the German Navy’s F125 frigates and the US Navy’s littoral combat ships and ground-based systems. In September 2017, Hensoldt acquired the British radar manufacturer

from the private equity firm ECI. Ground based air defense sensors include TRML-3D and TRML-4D active radar and passive radar.https://www.hensoldt.net/stories/twinvis-passive-radar> Hensoldt claims to have detected two

F-35 The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is an American family of single-seat, single-engine, all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft that is intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions. It is also able to provide ele ...

fighter jets as they were leaving from the

ILA Berlin Air Show The ILA Berlin Air Show ( German: Internationale Luft- und Raumfahrtausstellung (ILA)) combines a major trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries with a public airshow. It is held every even year at the new Berlin ExpoCenter Ai ...

in 2018 with their passive TwInvis radar system. Naval air defense radars include and TRS-4D in fixed panel and rotator variants.

Optronics

Hensoldt manufactures optical and optronic devices for military and civil security applications. The main components of these devices are daylight cameras, thermal imagers, image intensifiers and laser rangefinders. The systems are used on various platforms for air, ground, sea and space missions as well as for the protection of infrastructures and borderlands. The optronic systems are used on board the Puma infantry fighting vehicle, Leopard main battle tank,

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and

209 Year 209 ( CCIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Commodus and Lollianus (or, less frequently, year 962 ''Ab urbe condi ...

type submarines,

Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (; English: ''griffin'') is a light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stabilit ...

and

Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range ...

combat aircraft, AHRLAC reconnaissance aircraft, Baykar TB2 UAV, the Camcopter, Diamond DA42, and the EDRS-A satellite. In addition to this, Hensoldt also manufactures sights, targeting optics and optical systems deployed in the

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a 3rd generation main battle tank originally developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West Germ ...

main battle tank, PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzer,

NH90 The NHIndustries NH90 is a medium-sized, twin-engine, multi-role military helicopter. It was developed in response to NATO requirements for a battlefield helicopter which would also be capable of being operated in naval environments. The NH9 ...

and Tiger transport and combat helicopters, as well as in the “Future Soldier” programme for modernizing the infantry of the “

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

”, the German Armed Forces.

Avionics

The main system manufactured is the Sferion Pilot Assistance system, which allows for safe flight operations in a degraded visual environment. Products also include situational awareness systems, military mission computers and flight data recorders for helicopters and fighter aircraft. The company has set up the air traffic control network of the German Air Force, covering an airspace of 1,700 x 1,500 kilometres, by equipping airports used by the air force with ASR-S surveillance radar. Further air traffic control radars by Hensoldt are under contract for Great Britain, Australia and Canada. In August 2017, Hensoldt acquired the German based company EuroAvionics GmbH, a supplier of civil avionics systems for helicopters and UAVs.

Electronic warfare

Hensoldt's product portfolio for electronic warfare includes 'Kalaetron' family of airborne electronic warfare system, including "Kalaetron Attack" aimed at jamming enemy radars. The company is also a manufacturer of systems for acquiring and analysing radar and radio signals as well as equipments which offer protection for convoys and individual vehicles from attacks by

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached to a detonating mechan ...

s (IED). The company developed MUSS, an operational electronic self-protection system for armored vehicles, which is integrated into the German Armed Forces’ Puma infantry fighting vehicle.

Controversies

In October 2018, the German government imposed a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia, citing the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. However, in September 2022, reports revealed that despite the government embargo, Hensoldt continued to sell arms to the Arab nation. In 2019, the firm indulged in a deal for the establishment of a joint venture with the Kingdom’s state-owned arms manufacturer,

Saudi Arabian Military Industries , type = Private , traded_as = , industry = Defense & Security , fate = , founded = , defunct = , hq_location_city = Riyadh, Riyadh , hq_location_country = Saudi Arabia , key_people = Ahmed Al Khateeb (Chairman) Walid Abukhaled (CEO) ...

(SAMI). The German firm also used its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France and South Africa to continue supplying arms to Riyadh, as the foreign branches were not subjected to the German arms embargo. In 2020, Saudi required radars for its border with Yemen, where the United Arab Emirates and Saudi-led coalition were waging a deadly war. While hundreds of thousands of people, including civilians, died in the Yemen war, Hensoldt’s boards members were in talks to win the contract. Moreover, Hensoldt had been acting as a subcontractor, supplying components to

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

and French manufacturers, who continued the arms exports to Saudi Arabia.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.hensoldt.net Radar manufacturers Avionics companies Companies based in Bavaria Electronics companies of Germany Defence companies of Germany