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The Countries With The Highest Military Expenditure In 2020 [Infographic]
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21 octobre 2018 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité
CEO Q&A: L3’s Chris Kubasik and Harris’s Bill Brown
BY MARCUS WEISGERBER
Soon after the companies announced plans to form the world's 7th-largest defense firm, the CEOs rang up for a joint interview.
On Sunday, just after L3 Technologies and Harris Corp. announced their planned merger next year, I chatted with CEOs Chris Kubasik and Bill Brown about their plans to form L3 Harris Technologies, which would be the world's 7th-largest defense firm. Here are some excerpts.
Q. How did this come together?
Brown: Chris and I have known each other for a number of years here, and a lot of it started more socially, not from a business perspective. We work in the same space as complimentary businesses, complementary portfolios. Same [main] customer. You know we realized, given where we stack up in the defence hierarchy, this would be a great potential combination. We've been discussing it through the balance of this calendar year. [It] really picked up steam in the summer and were able to bring it forward here towards middle October.
Q. Why a merger rather than an acquisition by one partner?
Kubasik: Both companies are quite strong, and we're both on an upswing, and we looked at all the different stakeholders from the customers, the shareholders and the employees. And in our relative size and market value, a merger vehicle seems to be the absolute right way to go here. True partnership, as you've probably seen. 50/50 board. Bill and I have our leadership laid out clearly. It's absolutely the right way to do this. We're quite proud that we're able to pull it off. And I think it's the best way to serve all the stakeholders.
Q. Bill is going to be CEO until a transition to Chris in a couple of years. How will that work? And what happens to L3's New York office if the headquarters moves to Florida?
Brown: The combination in bringing these two great companies together is going to take a lot of work. So Chris and I will partner on this, in leading the company [and] clearly doing a lot of the integration. We're going to chair the integration committee together. I'll have responsibility for the enterprise functions, and Chris will keep an eye on the ball in what we do operationally in the business segments making sure that through to the integration we don't miss a beat in our growth agenda, meeting expectations of customers, delivering on programs. It's going to be a shared partnership in bringing the companies together.
Kubasik: On a combined basis, we have several thousand employees in the state of New York, a lot in Rochester, of course Long Island and the surrounding areas. We got to do to what we believe is best for the business. When you look at the Space Coast of Florida, the 7,000 or so employees and infrastructure in the Melbourne area, it's an easy decision. We'll be transitioning from the headquarters from New York and taking the best of the best and moving to Florida. At some point the Manhattan office will either be significantly scaled down or ultimately closed.
Q. Will the combined company divest or combine overlapping sectors?
Bill Brown: Very high and complimentary portfolios. So we see very, very, very little overlap.
Q. L3 has been on an acquisition spree in recent years. Should we expect more, perhaps in the maritime sphere?
Kubasik: Job one is going to be the integration for the first couple years, so there will be very, very few, if any, acquisitions the first couple of years. They would have to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We're going to focus first and foremost on integrating this company. Once we get this integrated, which is a three-year program, we'll update and modify the strategy as appropriate.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the proposed merged company's rank by revenue among global defense firms.
This Q&A is part of the weekly Global Business Brief newsletter by Marcus Weisgerber. Find the rest of this week's issue here,and subscribe to get it in your inbox, here.
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Light as a form of defence? Laser brings down unwanted drones
June 8, 2020 - Almost 300,000 km per second. That's the speed of light, and also the speed of laser light. Faster than any projectile. A laser is also accurate and always hits its target. This means it should be possible to bring down unwanted drones quickly and cheaply. In a laboratory set-up for weapon systems, TNO is already seeing promising test results with a high-energy laser. From an innocent toy to an offensive weapon: that's what happens when malicious people attach explosives to drones. The fact that improvised explosive devices like this can inflict significant damage was confirmed yet again last September, during the attacks on Saudi Arabian oil installations. GATWICK AIRPORT PLAGUED BY DRONES Even without explosives, drones can still cause major problems. In 2018, at Braitains Gatwick airport, a few simple and inexpensive drones proved capable of causing hours of disruption to air traffic. “The Netherlands has its own counter-drone research programme. The problem is being taken very seriously.” COUNTER-DRONE RESEARCH PROGRAMME Several countries across the world, including the Netherlands, are developing solutions for the problem of drones. Last year the Netherlands launched its own counter-drone research programme, spearheaded by the Ministry of Defence, the National Police and the National Coordinator for Counterterrorism and Security (NCTV). The problem is being taken very seriously and is therefore high on the agenda. UTMOST CARE “The first challenge is to quickly detect and identify an incoming drone”, says Patrick Keyzer, who heads up TNO's research programme. “If a drone appears to represent a genuine threat, we have to disarm it as quickly as possible. Of course, it must be done with the utmost care and we need to ensure that we inflict as little unintentional damage as possible.” “TNO is testing a high-energy laser capable of burning a hole in thick steel plate in just a few seconds” ENOUGH FIREPOWER Using a laser is one of the possibilities for disabling drones. “It's a highly effective method”, confirms Federica Valente, Business Developer for TNO's high-energy laser research. In a heavily-secured bunker, her colleagues are testing a high-energy laser capable of burning a hole in thick steel plate in a matter of seconds. “That's obviously more than enough firepower to bring down drones.” LESS THAN A EURO A SHOT “This kind of laser is also extremely accurate and cost-effective”, she continues. “To fire it, you only have to pay for the energy: less than a euro each time. A laser is also very flexible, enabling you to monitor the drone's every movement at relatively low cost.” “In addition to using a laser, we can also take control of the drones or use jammers” TOOLBOX “A laser weapon certainly has numerous advantages”, agrees Keyzer. “But we need to carefully assess the setting and situation in which a drone appears. It's important to have several options at our disposal for disabling drones responsibly. This is why we're currently developing and researching several different solutions. In addition to using a laser, we can also take control of the drones or use jammers. So, it's not a case of ‘one solution fits all'. Nevertheless, the emergence of a laser weapon will help enormously in combating the threat of drones.” The laser weapon is just one of the weapon systems that TNO is researching. The aim of these innovations is to protect those who protect us. Read more about it on the ‘Weapon Systems' page. View source version on TNO: https://www.tno.nl/en/tno-insights/articles/light-as-a-form-of-defence-laser-brings-down-unwanted-drones/