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Defence

Finmeccanica has a strong position across a range of capability areas and key programmes which are at the heart of UK defence requirements now and for the future. From rotorcraft to advanced targeting, from self-protection to lethality, and from secure communications to networking, Finmeccanica has UK-based world-class capabilities that are setting the standard internationally. Finmeccanica works with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and defence industry partners to help define the most effective capability and ensure that this is acquired, integrated and deployed with maximum efficiency and delivers the through-life operational benefits for which it was intended.

Finmeccanica in the UK provides a wide range of services, systems and products for air, land and sea:

Air

  • Helicopters – As the world's leading manufacturer of helicopters and a total rotorcraft capability provider, AgustaWestland's key capabilities include: Naval helicopters; Military utility and battlefield surveillance helicopters; Commercial helicopters; Public service helicopters; Integration of avionic and weapon systems; Integrated operational support; and training services and systems.
  • Airborne Sensors and Equipment – As the second largest European player in the defence electronics market, and the sixth worldwide, Finmeccanica designs and develops avionic suites, airborne sensors, defensive aid systems, radar sensors for air defence, battlefield management, naval warfare, coastal and maritime surveillance, air traffic control and turn-key airport solutions, all backed up by full logistic support.
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles –  Finmeccanica is continuously expanding its capabilities around unmanned systems, making them viable alternatives to manned aircraft or vehicles for a variety of missions with innovative high-tech solutions. The main focus is on research and development activities which perform routine surveillance and patrolling tactical operations. In fact, automating such a task can contribute noticeably to information control, allowing command centres to acquire and maintain a significant advantage in the operations development.

Land

  • Vehicle Systems – Finmeccanica is a leader in surveillance, protection, tracking, targeting, navigation, and control, and imaging systems, leveraging its international reach to deliver powerful, innovative solutions.
  • Soldier Systems – Soldato Futuro is a project which aims to enhance the infantry's combat effectiveness in the 21st century. The system increases lethality and situational awareness in a continuously changing battlefield. The objective is to integrate weapons, sighting systems, and radios that each individual soldier carries or uses, with the objective of increasing his overall effectiveness on the battlefield. This covers:
    • Command And Control System
    • Communications System
    • Target Acquisition
    • Weapon System
  • C4I Systems – Finmeccanica is committed to providing military commanders with a clear strategic and tactical picture of how allied and enemy forces are deployed. Our know-how ensures – in joint and multinational operations – the best representation of the battlespace, along with command and control, mission planning and resource and logistic management functions.  Moreover, our C4I Systems capability includes
    • Situational Awareness
    • Communications Systems
    • Radars
    • Electronic Warfare & Countermeasures
    • Information Superiority
    • Surveillance & Intelligence
  • Force Protection – Peace-keeping operations, peace-supporting operations, and out-of-area missions are increasingly generating new challenges. Deployments abroad require advanced and integrated solutions to preserve the combat power of our forces, and to respond to asymmetric attacks carried out by irregular forces and insurgent groups.

Maritime

Finmeccanica has strategic partnerships and businesses in the global maritime market.  In the UK, we provide and offer many solutions for the Royal Navy, ranging from the helicopters on the flight deck, to medium calibre guns, and the capability to connect these into a ship and the wider land, littoral, air and defence architectures. From the aft flight deck to the gun system in the bow, Finmeccanica’s operating companies provide mission solutions  such as Communications and Command Systems (Selex Comms, Selex Systems Integration); Sensor and Information Systems (Selex Galileo, Selex Comms, DRS); and Protection and Defensive Systems (Selex Galileo, Oto Melara) 

Simulation and Training

Finmeccanica’s training capability combines in-depth domain knowledge and training expertise with a long-established capability of developing and integrating the latest and most appropriate training technology. This ensures customers and end-users receive cost-effective, through-life training solutions that transform training and enhance operational capability. Our appreciation of the individual, collective and through-life training requirement helps ensure that the training line of development delivers sustainable value to the front line, enabling armed forces to be fully prepared for the increasingly complex and uncertain future of warfare. Finmeccanica's concept of training and support is a seamless fusion of:

  • Individual Training – Ensuring that every individual has the opportunity to develop the skills required of them, is essential to the continued operational success of any organisation. Finmeccanica has the relevant experience and technological vision to transform the training of an organisation in the most cost-efficient manner, helping the individual realise their potential and enhancing the front-line capability effect.
  • Collective Training – The demands of network enabled operations require a greater capacity to understand the interconnected roles of the individual, teams and the collective, in order to successfully improve front-line capability. Finmeccanica can provide the insight and training expertise to fully articulate the collective training requirement. We offer a range of solutions to meet the identified operational requirements.
  • Mission Support – Delivering effective and efficient through-life capability depends on the ability to manage the training line of development to ensure it meets the evolving operational requirement. Finmeccanica offers solutions that help maintain front-line capability and prolong the operational effectiveness of equipment.

Defence technology acquisition and through-life capability planning

Supporting all areas of defence, we work at the heart of the UK defence acquisition community, helping ensure that military capability is defined, acquired and delivered in a manner that ensures the required operational capability effect is met within the shortest possible timescales and with maximum efficiency. This is done through the following services:

  • Equipment/Independent Programme Management – We have a long-established relationship with UK MOD, providing independent and expert advice to ensure the efficient procurement of frontline capability. The company’s heritage in defence, along with its qualified expertise in through-life programme management best practice, mean VEGA is ideally placed to take responsibility for the whole of (or phases of) a major UK MOD programme’s acquisition lifecycle.
  • Enterprise Analysis and Architecture – We use a combination of expertise, techniques and tools to deliver the enterprise analysis and architecture services to enable its defence clients to understand the impact of their business and technology drivers, evaluate the options, and make informed investment decisions based on auditable data. Such an approach helps shape the appropriate capability programmes that will efficiently improve operational capability.
  • Technology Performance Management – We provide an approach to de-risking technology insertion, enabling defence clients to understand the consequences of it to their business architecture before implementation. The company provides either a single appraisal or a through-life managed service that allows organisations to monitor how technology is performing, identify when it fails and how to ensure that their business-critical operations are optimised