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Finmeccanica at Farnborough 2010: a lasting commitment to security
From 19 to 25 July 2010, Finmeccanica will take part in the 47th Farnborough Air Show, which, together with that of Le Bourget, with which it alternates years, is the world’s largest showcase for aerospace technology and the defence and security industry, and the event that most represents current trends in the international market.
Finmeccanica today
With about 77,000 employees from around 20 different countries, revenues of over EUR 18 billion, three domestic markets in Italy, the UK and the US, and a gradually expanding network in emerging countries, the Finmeccanica Group is a world leader in the aerospace, defence and security sectors, offering reliable, hightech solutions generated by huge investment in research and development, and constant efforts to integrate the intelligence, knowledge and values present within its companies. 70% of revenues and 73% of the workforce are concentrated in the three strategic pillars of helicopters, defence and security electronics and aeronautics. Its wealth of technologies and expertise in these sectors is organised into a coherent system that allows Finmeccanica to provide the best and most innovative solutions in all areas in which the protection and security of people, territory and infrastructure is key.
Security and Lifetime Commitment
At the UK show, Finmeccanica is exhibiting a vast and complementary portfolio of products and solutions that includes not only platforms or individual avionics, communication or control systems, but above all the systems capacities that ensure the exchange of information between the various components, thereby allowing the integrated use of all vehicles and technologies available in a multitude of operational scenarios: homeland security, defence and aerial surveillance, air traffic control and management, space services and infrastructure, protected communications networks, network centric warfare, protection of borders and critical infrastructure, naval protection, maritime and land defence, and urban protection during important events.
This vast offer of sophisticated technologies and innovative capacities is combined with Finmeccanica’s constant long-term commitment to its clients, which is reflected in its active and prompt operations in services, upgrades and training for the whole life cycle of its products. Today, the platforms and systems that equip and network them are destined to remain in service for a long time, but must also be flexible enough to be adapted rapidly to unexpected conditions and a variety of operational situations relating to protection and security. The concept of Through Life Capability Management has become an essential strategic requirement, and Finmeccanica is at the cutting edge of this sector, thanks to an effective partnership with its clients that enables it to increasingly better understand and in many cases anticipate operational needs, and to develop with its clients the most innovative and flexible solutions at competitive prices, as well as ensuring their continued functionality over time.
If “security” is therefore the key word that indicates the value and content of what Finmeccanica is bringing to Farnborough, the main principle around which the display area is organised – where the products are physically subjected to the assessment of experts and the public – is “lifetime commitment”. The exhibition does not simply propose a range of products and systems, but is intended to provide a tangible demonstration of Finmeccanica’s capacities to design flexible and open solutions and systems architecture, and to guarantee a lasting and reliable commitment to their operational management.
Companies present
The Finmeccanica group companies attending the Farnborough Air Show this year are AgustaWestland, Alenia Aermacchi, Alenia Aeronautica, DRS Technologies, Elsag Datamat, Seicos, SELEX Communications, SELEX Galileo, SELEX Service Management, SELEX Sistemi Integrati, Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space. The companies will showcase, at the Finmeccanica stand, the most representative and sophisticated systems and equipment of their production.
Exhibition area
The outer area of the Finmeccanica stand is dedicated to the Group’s five areas of business, each of which is an integral part and concrete proof of Finmeccanica’s Lifetime Commitment. In this area, products and systems are proposed in a traditional manner, represented by the products themselves, models or explanatory films, and are organised not by company but by capacity, demonstrating the integrated and wide-ranging vision of the Finmeccanica Group.
- Space: the Group has a long tradition of excellence in three large areas of navigation, Earth observation and communications.
- Air Systems: showcases Finmeccanica’s cutting-edge technologies in military aircraft, unmanned aircraft, regional aircraft, helicopters and mission, avionics and communication systems.
- Training & Support: Group companies’ most innovative solutions based on virtual reality for training, mission simulation, assisted maintenance of large, complex systems and the reproduction of aircraft and helicopter cockpits.
- Security & Resilience: a wide spectrum of integrated solutions that ensure the security of infrastructure, the protection of borders and territory, and the protection and security of the public during important events, even under extreme conditions.
- Joint Operations: the capacities of the Finmeccanica Group in organising defence systems, which must at all times ensure situation awareness, that is global vision and control in any conditions and in any operational situation, ensuring strategic and tactical communications with all military, land, naval and air platforms, in a single integrated network.
Demonstration area
The central area of the Finmeccanica stand is the Integrated Capabilities Area, which offers a demonstration of the Group’s systems capacities, put to the test in three specific operational contexts.
- Multinational Intervention F-Nec Solutions: a multinational intervention to restore security following a local insurrection, which puts in place a system for the integrated operation of all the components used in this type of operation, including platforms, sensors, command and control centres and communications systems.
- Homeland Security: the protection of a port endangered following an incident on board a ship, managed through the integrated intervention of patrol and identification aircraft, sensors, radar systems and satellites for the control of sea, land and air borders.
- Securing Major Events: the security of a major sports event that must be protected from a possible terrorist attack, through the simultaneous use of vehicles, aircraft, helicopters and UAV systems, networked by radar and satellite and protected communications systems.
These three plausible and topical scenarios will be recreated through video, demonstrations by the users themselves and direct links with operations centres: a tangible example of how Finmeccanica Group companies provide prompt and efficient responses to concrete problems in today's world.
Static display area
Again this year, the static display area will showcase the best of global technology, as applied by Finmeccanica in its aeronautical platforms, radar systems, unmanned aircraft, and command and control systems for defence and security. Over a total area of around 7,600 sq. m., institutional delegations and the public will be able to view at close hand, among others, the C-27J Spartan, tactical transport aircraft chosen by the US army and air force, the AW101 and AW139, considered the global benchmarks in their respective fields, the AW159 Lynx Wildcat medium twin-engine helicopter for military purposes, the ATR 42MP in the service of the finance police, the Sky-Y, technology demonstrator for surveillance UAVs, the M-346, the most advanced trainer available on the international market today, Falco, the next-generation UAV for territorial surveillance, the NEXOS system, the surveillance unit equipped with Lyra 10 radar, the RAT31DL/M, the biggest selling 3D tactical air defence radar within NATO in the last few years, Sentry HP, a UAV system for long-range recognition and surveillance, and WBDL, a broadband communications system between aerial platforms and ground control systems.
Finmeccanica in the UK
The Group has a long-standing presence, via Finmeccanica UK, in the country, where it is accredited as the second largest supplier of the UK Ministry of Defence and biggest foreign investor in the sectors of helicopters, avionics and protected communications. This has now become a second domestic market where the Group supplies solutions applicable to a multitude of scenarios, from large platforms to tiny sensors, encompassing on-board avionics equipment, integrated communications networks and control systems. From Edinburgh to Portsmouth, Finmeccanica has 16 main sites and 14 regional offices in coastal locations, with a workforce of around 10,000 staff, making the Italian Group the second largest employer in the UK.
