Eurosam, headquartered near Paris, is a joint venture set up more
than a decade ago by Europe's largest defence contractors to meet
future air-defence requirements.
Its direct shareholders include the French and Italian subsidiaries
of MBDA and Thales, while BAE Systems and Matra BAE Dynamics are
also involved in its programmes.
These world-leading aerospace and missile companies have joined
their efforts to design, develop and manufacture the most modern
air-defence systems in the world, in a range of versions optimised
for naval, ground-launched or anti-tactical ballistic missile
missions.
Eurosam's development program was originally funded by the French
and Italian defence ministries, later joined by Britain's Ministry
of Defence for the development of a naval area-defence variant.
The company has already been selected by the Royal Saudi Arabian
Navy to supply the main weapon systems of its latest F3000S air-defence
frigates, and additional export sales are being negotiated to
other countries.
