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BONN, Germany — The CEO of MTU Aero Engines, Egon Behle, and the chairman and CEO of Sagem (Safran group), Philippe Petitcolin, signed an agreement July 6 to form a 50-50 joint venture.
Headquartered on the MTU Campus in Munich, the new AES Aerospace Embedded Solutions will provide safety-critical software and hardware for military and civil aviation applications. AES will deploy about 200 engineers, primarily from MTU Aero Engines but also from Safran.
The signature followed a memorandum of agreement announced in December by both companies.
“The grouping of competences is a determining step to jointly open new markets,” Behle said in a statement. “Therefore, the new joint venture will offer additional positive perspectives for our businesses. Together with Sagem, we will focus on accessing a multitude of future development programs within the global aviation and defense industry.”
The main products of AES will include control systems for engines such as the TP400-D6 type turboprop for the new Airbus A400M military transport, as well as other safety-critical hardware and software solutions, such as controls for landing gear, brakes, monitoring and information systems.
Sagem’s Christophe Bruneau will be the first CEO and MTU Aero Engines’ Thomas Faehr will be the first chief technical officer. According to MTU Aero Engines, AES could start operations by the end of the year, pending regulatory approval.
AES will support both Safran’s and MTU’s programs, as well as working for other industries requiring safety-critical hardware and software.
“For MTU and Sagem, the creation of AES marks a significant step forward in the consolidation of European centers of excellence in critical aerospace and defense technologies,” Petitcolin said during the signing.
