Aerospace and defense

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Aerospace and defense

Esch, K.

The challenge facing the European aerospace community after 1992, integrating members' individual capabilities into a decisively unified, noncontentious entity, is addressed. The two stellar examples of European cooperation in this area, the European Space Agency (ESA) and Arianespace SA, which builds and launches the Ariane rockets, are examined. ESA is a consortium of the national space research agencies of 13 countries and has overall responsibility for the development of Hermes, France's first manned space vehicle. Arianespace has 52 shareholder companies and research organizations in 11 countries; as the first company of its kind, it has captured more than half the world's commercial spacecraft launch-service business. The aerospace industry's biggest question, namely, what will happen in the defense sector, is discussed, focusing on the restructuring resulting from rising arms costs and changing political realities.