Hensoldt AG ''(HENSOLDT)'' is a

multinational corporation A multinational corporation (MNC; also called a multinational enterprise (MNE), transnational enterprise (TNE), transnational corporation (TNC), international corporation, or stateless corporation, is a corporate organization that owns and cont ...

headquartered in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

which focuses on sensor technologies for protection and

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

missions in the

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercion). Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be persons and social groups, objects and institutions, ecosystems, or any other entity or ...

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 astron ...

sectors. The main product areas are

radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...

optoelectronics Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radi ...

and

avionics Avionics (a portmanteau of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, and the ...

. Hensoldt's main office is in Taufkirchen near Munich,

. On 25 September 2020, Hensoldt AG was listed in the Prime Standard of the

Frankfurt Stock Exchange The Frankfurt Stock Exchange (, former German name: , ''FWB'') is the world's 3rd oldest and 12th largest stock exchange by market capitalization. It has operations from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm ( German time). Organisation Located in Frankfurt, ...

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 Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

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

KKR KKR may refer to: * KKR & Co., a global investment firm *Kolkata Knight Riders, an Indian Premier League franchise * Rheinsberg Nuclear Power Plant (), first nuclear power plant in the former East Germany * Kalkara, Malta, postal code KKR *Kir-Bala ...

for 1.1 billion euros.Arno Schuetze and Sabine Siebold (September 5, 2019)
KKR to sell or float German defence supplier Hensoldt: sources
''

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

''. Since December 2020, the government 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 Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of optical instruments, instruments that use or Photodetector, detect it. Optics usually describes t ...

and precision mechanics in the 19th century. In 1852, he founded an optical workshop for telescopes, astronomical equipment and microscopes. In 2019, news agency Reuters reported that KKR was in the process of preparing for a listing of 20-30% on the stock exchange or a sale of Hensoldt. In 2023, Hensoldt acquired defence systems integrator ESG Elektroniksystem for an enterprise value of 675 million euros ($727.79 million), along with an earn-out of up to 55 million euros.

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. Name The name "Oberkochen" consists of the two German words "ober", meaning "above" or "upper", and " Kocher", the name o ...

, 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 region in Northern France. It is located in the western outer suburbs of Paris, from the centre of Paris. It borders among others on Élancourt (sout ...

, France * Nexeya SAS,

Châtenay-Malabry Châtenay-Malabry () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the center of Paris. The French writer Chateaubriand lived in the estate at Châtenay-Malabry. The Garden City in the Butte Rouge, the , is one of t ...

, France * EuroAvionics Holding GmbH,

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the ...

, Germany * Hensoldt Australia Pty Ltd,

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, Australia. Formerly IE Asia-Pacific Pty Ltd. * Hensoldt South Africa,

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, South Africa. Formerly Hensoldt Optronics (Pty) Ltd. and GEW Technologies (Pty) Ltd. * Hensoldt Pvt Ltd,

Bengaluru Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

, India * Hensoldt Inc.,

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Virginia, United States * Hensoldt Netherlands,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, The Netherlands

Activities

Radar

Hensoldt develops and manufactures radar systems for the purposes of

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

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 air ...

and

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...

. These radars are used on such platforms as the

Eurofighter The Eurofighter Typhoon is a European multinational twin-engine, supersonic, canard delta wing, multirole fighter. The Typhoon was designed originally as an air-superiority fighter and is manufactured by a consortium of Airbus, BAE Systems ...

, the German Navy's F125 frigates and the US Navy's

littoral combat ship A littoral combat ship (LCS) is either of two classes of relatively small surface vessels designed for littoral warfare in near-shore operations by the United States Navy. It was "envisioned to be a networked, agile, stealthy surface comba ...

s 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 Passive radar (also referred to as parasitic radar, passive coherent location, passive surveillance, and passive covert radar) is a class of radar systems that detect and track objects by processing reflections from non-cooperative sources of illu ...

.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, supersonic stealth strike fighters. A multirole combat aircraft designed for both air superiority and strike missions, it also has electronic warf ...

fighter jets as they were leaving from the

ILA Berlin Air Show The ILA Berlin Air Show ( German: (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 Airport next to the Berlin Brandenburg Airport ...

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 intensifier An image intensifier or image intensifier tube is a vacuum tube device for increasing the intensity of available light in an optical system to allow use under low-light conditions, such as at night, to facilitate visual imaging of low-light proce ...

s and

laser rangefinder A laser rangefinder, also known as a laser telemeter or laser distance meter, is a rangefinder that uses a laser beam to determine the distance to an object. The most common form of laser rangefinder operates on the time of flight principle by ...

s. 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,

212 Year 212 ( CCXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Asper and Camilius (or, less frequently, year 965 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 212 for this ye ...

and 209 type submarines,

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

and

Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "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

sight Visual perception is the ability to detect light and use it to form an image of the surrounding Biophysical environment, environment. Photodetection without image formation is classified as ''light sensing''. In most vertebrates, visual percept ...

s, targeting optics and optical systems deployed in the

Leopard 2 The Leopard 2 is a third generation German main battle tank (MBT). Developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s, the tank entered service in 1979 and replaced the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the West German army. Various iterat ...

main battle tank,

PzH 2000 The Panzerhaubitze 2000 (), meaning "armoured howitzer 2000" and abbreviated PzH 2000, is a German 155 mm Self-propelled gun, self-propelled howitzer developed by KNDS Deutschland (formerly Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW)) and Rheinmetall in the 198 ...

self-propelled howitzer,

NH90 The NHIndustries NH90 is a European medium-sized, twin-engine, multirole military helicopter. It was the first production helicopter to feature entirely fly-by-wire flight controls.Perry, Dominic"Rotor club: Our top 10 most influential helico ...

and

Tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is a large Felidae, cat and a member of the genus ''Panthera'' native to Asia. It has a powerful, muscular body with a large head and paws, a long tail and orange fur with black, mostly vertical stripes. It is ...

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

Bundeswehr The (, ''Federal Defence'') are the armed forces of the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. The is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part consists of the four armed forces: Germ ...

, 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 Situational awareness or situation awareness, often abbreviated as SA is the understanding of an environment, its elements, and how it changes with respect to time or other factors. It is also defined as the perception of the elements in the envi ...

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 The German Air Force (, ) is the aerial warfare branch of the , the armed forces of Germany. The German Air Force (as part of the ) was founded in 1956 during the era of the Cold War as the aerial warfare branch of the armed forces of West Ger ...

, 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 warfare, conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached t ...

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 On 2 October 2018, Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi dissident journalist, was killed by agents of the Saudi government at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Khashoggi was ambushed and strangled by a 15-member squad of Saudi operatives. His body w ...

. 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 Saudi Arabian Military Industries (SAMI), (Arabic:الشركة السعودية للصناعات العسكرية), is a state-owned defense company based in Saudi Arabia. Activities SAMI was established to provide defense products and servic ...

(SAMI). The German firm also used its subsidiaries in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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 Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

, where the United Arab Emirates and Saudi-led coalition were waging a deadly

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

. 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 countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

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

References

External links

* {{Authority control Radar manufacturers Avionics companies Companies based in Upper Bavaria Electronics companies of Germany Defence companies of Germany Leonardo S.p.A. Companies listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange Kohlberg Kravis Roberts companies