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The "Società Finanziaria Meccanica Finmeccanica" was set up by the "Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale" (IRI) to manage State participation in the mechanical and ship-building industries which would be acquired by IRI during its first fifteen years of activity.
 

Finmeccanica was given a clearly defined task and substantial resources to restructure important companies which would become the core of the mechanical industry for the next fifty years: Ansaldo, Alfa Romeo, San Giorgio, Sant'Eustachio, Navalmeccanica, Cantieri Navali dell'Adriatico.
 
Attention focused on sectors such as automobiles, ship building, railways and industrial machinery, with an eye on the emerging electronics sector.
 

 
The quest for a more competitive dimension and the general trend towards better structuring of the whole state participation system, led to a series of company transfers, mainly with EFIM, but also with other financial branches of IRI. Against this background, Finmeccanica sold off the railway companies and the electronics firms (transferred to STET), and acquired several companies in the electro-mechanical sector.
 
 

 
In the early 1970s, Finmeccanica changed its organizational structure. The Group acquired a sizable dimension with participation in several industrial sectors: automobiles (with Alfa Romeo, acquired in 1948), the thermo-electro-mechanical sector (with Ansaldo, a long-standing company founded in 1854) and the aerospace sector (with Aeritalia, set up 50/50 with FIAT in 1969).
 
 
 

 
The energy crisis forced Finmeccanica to review the policy it had been pursuing up until that time.
 
The new objectives were restructuring, internationalization, and achieving a competitive dimension.
 
Although these objectives were similar to those of the early 1950s, they now referred to a very different industrial scenario.
 

 
During the early 1980s, Finmeccanica began to focus on the electro-mechanical and aerospace sectors, gradually consolidating its activities. 1987 marked the end of this restructuring phase which was essential to enable the Group to develop internationally. In 1989, IRI decided that Finmeccanica should re-acquire Selenia, Elsag and SGS, three companies specialized mainly in the electronics field, previously transferred to STET.
 
At this point, Finmeccanica's range of activities included civil systems, automated factories, command and control systems, missile systems, biomedical apparatus, robotics, microelectronic components, alongside the traditional sectors of energy, transport, industrial plant, and aerospace.
 
 

 
In 1990, Aeritalia and Selenia were merged to form Alenia, bringing together the activities of the two companies in the fields of aeronautics, defence electronics, missile systems and air traffic control.
 
At the same time, Elsag acquired Bailey thereby expanding its significant presence in the field of automated processes and services. In 1991, Ansaldo Energia was set up with the merger of Ansaldo GIE and Ansaldo Componenti, followed by the acquisition of Fabbrica Turbine and Caldaie Legnano.
 
Setting up Elsag Bailey Process Automation, together with subsequent acquisitions, enabled Finmeccanica to become the second largest group in the world for this sector. The acquisition of Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie led to the creation of an integrated railway group able to compete with leading European operators.
 
Finmeccanica began operating in the microelectronics sector in 1999 through a merger with MEI, an Italian company (equally shared with French State participation) which owned 22% of ST Microelectronics, a leading semiconductor firm.
 
 

 
1992 was a milestone in Finmeccanica's history since the Group's shares were listed on the stock exchange, under its new name Finmeccanica S.p.A. (Società per Azioni), through a merger with its subsidiary SIFA.
 
 

 
In 2000, Italian State participation in Finmeccanica was reduced and all the IRI shares were put on the market with a value of more than 5 billion euros. Today, the Italian Ministry of Finance holds about one third of the capital and the rest is on the market.
 
The old Group structure of divisions was replaced by homogeneous operating companies in line with a strategy of international development, leaving Finmeccanica with the task of strategic and industrial control.
 
Alenia Spazio and Agusta were set up in 2000, Galileo Avionica and Oto Melara in 2001, Alenia Aeronautica in 2002.
 
In 2001, the transport sector expanded with the creation of AnsaldoBreda and Ansaldo Trasporti Sistemi Ferroviari. In 2002, acquisitions included Marconi Mobile (now SELEX Communications), OTE and Telespazio, companies that are leaders in defence communications, radio systems for professional users, and satellite systems and services.
 
In the aerospace and defence sectors, Finmeccanica strengthened its role as the main Italian manufacturer and one of the leaders in Europe by acquiring Aermacchi and a 30% share in Fiat Avio (now the Avio Group, the rest of which is controlled by The Carlyle Group).
 
Italy and the USA signed a Memorandum of Understanding relating to Italian participation in the industrial program for the new generation Joint Strike Fighter.
 
Finmeccanica took part in designing, developing and manufacturing components for the new plane through its companies Alenia Aeronautica, Galileo Avionica, SELEX Communications and Elsag.
 
 

 
At the start of 2003, Alenia Aeronautica won a tender for 12 tactical transport aircraft, the new generation C-27J, for the Greek Air Force, to be produced jointly with the US company Lockheed Martin.
 
Again in the aeronautical sector, Boeing and Finmeccanica set up an agreement for collaboration on the 7E7 Dreamliner, the most advanced civil aviation program in the world.
 
In the radio-communications sector, SELEX Communications acquired MMA (Marconi Mobile Access), a centre of excellence for radio-mobile technologies and applications.
 
 

Finmeccanica signed the definitive contract with GKN to acquire GKN's 50% share in the joint venture AgustaWestland N.V. helicopters. With this move, Finmeccanica acquired control of the world's leading helicopter company.
 
The Italian Space Agency and Alenia Spazio signed a contract to produce the COSMOSkyMed satellite system, a constellation of four dual-use satellites (civil and defence) designed for Earth observation.
 
Alenia Spazio was appointed project leader for the industrial team to produce the satellite system, with Telespazio as one of the main suppliers.
 
 

From 2004 to the present day, Finmeccanica has continued with coherence and success along its road to progressive internationalisation, and the never-ceasing innovation and integration of its competences to offer the market solutions that are increasingly more advanced and responsive to the evolution of its customers' demands worldwide.

• Thanks to the agreement completed in 2005 with BAE Systems, the Group acquired important technological and production assets in the United Kingdom and reconfigured its entire Electronics for Defence and Security. Thus, the "SELEX family" was born, whose name evokes the historic name of Selenia, the company that 40 years ago started Finmeccanica's adventure in the radar and electronics sector. The current "SELEX" companies include SELEX Sistemi Integrati, SELEX Galileo, SELEX Communications and SELEX Service Management, with its subsidiary Seicos. Later on, the Electronics for Defence and Security sector would be further bolstered by the acquisition of the Italian company Datamat, merged into the new asset Elsag Datamat, and the British company Vega. With the whole of these companies, Finmeccanica joined the ranks of the narrow list of international players in integrated systems and laid down the basis for its subsequent growth in the American.
• 2005 was also the year of the Space Alliance, thanks to which Finmeccanica soared to the top of the space industry in Europe. With Alcatel, whose place was taken by Thales in 2007, the Group formed two joint ventures: Thales Alenia Space for manufacturing activities and Telespazio for satellite services. These two companies today have a leading role in all the main international environmental space programmes (GMES), satellite navigation (Galileo and EGNOS), Earth observation for civil and defence purposes (COSMO-SkyMed, Syracuse and Sicral among others). Furthermore, they take part in scientific and exploration projects of the caliber of GOCE, Herschel & Planck and ExoMars.
• Also in 2005, Alenia Aeronautica began its collaboration with Boeing for the B787 Dreamliner, the most advanced programme in the civil aviation field.
• The following year another agreement was added to this, the one with the Russian company Sukhoi Civil Aircraft for the development of the Superjet 100, a new family of regional aircraft. The agreement gave rise in 2007 to the SuperJet International joint venture (51% Alenia Aeronautica, 49% Sukhoi), based in Venice, responsible for marketing, sales and delivery of the aircraft in Europe, North and South America, Africa, Japan and Oceania as well as the related activity of post-sales support worldwide.
• In 2007, thanks to the C-27J, the Group was awarded, in a team with L-3 and Boeing, an extremely important contract for the modernisation of the cargo aircraft fleet of the United States Army and Air Force, in the context of the Joint Cargo Aircraft programme. This was another step forward in the affirmation of Finmeccanica in the competitive American market, a priority in its growth strategy, a strategy that would reach its pinnacle during the following year.
• It was on 22 October 2008 that Finmeccanica would in fact complete the 100% acquisition of the American company DRS Technologies, leader in the supply of products and services in Electronics for Defence and Security. It was the largest acquisition ever carried out by a European company in the American defence industry and represented the crowning achievement of Finmeccanica s' long journey down the road towards growth.
  The entry of DRS not only allowed the Group to obtain a stable and significant positioning in the USA market, difficult to get into otherwise, but it also permitted the development of a wide range of complementarity beneficial for the whole of its companies. This complementarity reinforces it even more in the sectors, with high future potential, of integrated systems, based on complex architecture and network-centric logic, as well as in the production of avionics and electro-optical apparatus and systems, unmanned aerial systems, radar systems, ground and sea command and control systems, integrated communication systems and networks, private mobile radio communication systems and added value services in the Information Technology field.

In addition to the fundamental event in the life of the Group represented by the entry of DRS, there were also other important results reached by Finmeccanica in 2008 and 2009 despite the difficult world economic situation. Among these were the following:

• In the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, Finmeccanica and Mubadala Development Company signed an industrial partnership agreement in various key areas (aeronautics and composite materials). On 25 February 2009, the Government of the UAE announced that it had begun the negotiating phase for the purchase of 48 M-346 Master advanced training aircraft manufactured by Alenia Aermacchi.
• In Russia, AgustaWestland and Oboronprom Corporation launched a long-term collaboration in the field of civil helicopters and formed a 50-50 joint venture for the building of an AW139 civil helicopter assembly line.
• Always in Russia, in April 2009, SELEX Sistemi Integrati and the companies Scartel and Russian Electronics OJSCo, belonging to the state group Russian Technologies, reached an agreement for the future formation of a consortium that will have the task of designing and building systems for managing the security of large events and the protection of critical infrastructures.
• Getting back to the Helicopter industry, in February 2009, AgustaWestland and Tata Sons - a large industrial group working in the IT, engineering, materials, services and energy sectors-signed a memorandum of understanding for the creation of a joint venture in India.
• On 18 August 2009, AgustaWestland also signed a contract for the acquisition of 87.61% of the capital stock of PZL - Swidnik, a Polish manufacturer of helicopters and aerostructures. In this manner, once this acquisition has been completed, Poland will become- together with Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States- a new "domestic" market of Finmeccanica.
• Still in 2009, Finmeccanica, the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) and the Libya Africa Investment Portfolio (LAP) signed an agreement for the development of strategic cooperation activity in Libya and other Countries in the Middle East and Africa. On the basis of this agreement, investment opportunities will be pursued in the aerospace, electronics, transport and energy sectors for commercial and civil applications.
• Lastly, there are many important contracts signed by Finmeccanica in these past two years. Foremost because of its symbolic value, there is the order by the Italian Department of Civil Protection for the creation of the management system for the G-8 summit held in L'Aquila in July 2009, including two Security Operation Centers, a communication system with radio location and a Control and Supervision center.

 
The attention that Finmeccanica has dedicated to the growth of its core business has not prevented the Group from evolving positively also in the field of Energy and Transport. In November 2005, Ansaldo STS was established, which brought together all the signaling activity of the Group. Immediately afterwards, 60% of the company was placed on the Stock Exchange. In the Rolling Stock sector, the agreement with Bombardier for the production of trains for the High Speed rail system opened up interesting prospects for AnsaldoBreda at the international level. There were many international contracts signed by the company. For its part, Ansaldo Energia reinforced its international presence thanks to many new contracts and targeted acquisitions in the turbine and systems service field, without however abandoning the building of turbines for energy production while also investing in alternative energy sources, from nuclear with the establishment of Ansaldo Nucleare to fuel cell technology with the creation of Ansaldo Fuel Cells.
 
In summary, Finmeccanica today is truly a multi-domestic and multi-cultural Group, with 74,239 people, 30,000 of which work outside of Italy (in particular more than 12,000 in the United States and more than 10,000 in the United Kingdom).

It has made a name for itself as a dynamic and innovative company, that works for the benefit of security, defence, mobility and the quality of life for all and that it knows how to create value.