Word: thomson
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...decision hardly came as a surprise to executives of the French defense contractor Thomson-CSF. For months the U.S. defense community had been debating the wisdom of allowing the company, 60% owned by the French government, to buy Dallas-based LTV Corp.'s missile business. The issue was resolved by the Treasury Department's interagency Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which responded on the eve of the Fourth of July with a resounding "Non!" The panel voted to recommend to President Bush this week a rejection of Thomson-CSF's $300 million offer, based on widespread concern...
...Pentagon's Defense Intelligence Agency has determined that the sale of LTV's missile technology to the French firm poses major security problems. Thomson-CSF, aware that access to LTV's Stealth technology would never be approved, brought the Carlyle Group into the deal specifically to buy the aircraft operations. Still, critics object that Thomson-CSF is essentially buying U.S. secrets. Asks a Pentagon insider rhetorically: "Why else would Thomson buy a bankrupt LTV in a declining defense market except to get the technology...
Under U.S. law, either the U.S. Defense Department or the President can restrict or veto the sale. Last week, reflecting growing concern over the ^ deal, the review process was extended to late July. One particularly sensitive point being raised is Thomson-CSF's record of supplying arms to rogue governments, including Libya and Iraq. Already, 45 Senators and many Congressmen have petitioned President Bush to stop the sale. Argues Senator Jeff Bingaman, chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services technology subcommittee: "There isn't a country in the world that would permit the U.S. through a government-owned company...
...battle involves some powerful protagonists in the international defense industry. Championing the proposed deal is former U.S. Defense Secretary Frank Carlucci, now Carlyle's vice chairman, who argues that the LTV missile operation is a natural complement to Thomson-CSF's heavy involvement in communications, radar and guidance systems. Carlucci claims that LTV will benefit from the strength of Thomson-CSF, and to prove his point he cites opposition to the sale by French missilemakers Aerospatiale and Matra. "The U.S. cannot escape the trend toward greater internationalization of the Western defense industry," he says...
Carlucci charges that Martin Marietta's Augustine wrongly claims that the French government's ownership of Thomson gives it control of the firm. Carlucci argues instead that such French firms enjoy considerable autonomy. Dozens of international firms have classified contracts with the Pentagon, he points out. Thomson-CSF itself shares with GTE a $4.3 billion contract for the state-of-the-art battlefield-communications system that played a critical role in the gulf war. For that matter, Martin Marietta shares classified contracts with Thomson-CSF for sophisticated terminally guided munitions. James Bell, chairman and president of Thomson...