Systematic and AgustaWestland, a Finmeccanica company, today signed a Heads of Agreement (HoA) in Copenhagen to jointly explore business opportunities worldwide. AgustaWestland and Systematic will also work towards the integration of the SitaWare range of systems with AgustaWestland’s rotorcraft platforms and assist Systematic with the development and international marketing of its products and services.
The intention is to leverage on AgustaWestland’s global marketing and sales network, to assist Systematic, especially in high-growth markets in Asia, South America and the Middle East where AgustaWestland has a well established presence.
As a leading supplier of command and control, military messaging and electronic warfare systems in the defence sector Systematic and AgustaWestland will co-operate in developing new markets, as well as co-operating on the Danish Maritime Helicopter Programme for which AgustaWestland is currently competing with the AW159 helicopter.
AgustaWestland senior vice president of international business, Giacomo Saponaro said: "AgustaWestland is looking forward to working with Systematic to develop new opportunities for its products and services worldwide. We see great potential for many of Systematic’s systems including its range of advanced command and control solutions."
Michael Holm, CEO, Systematic, added: "This cooperation gives Systematic a great opportunity to gain a foothold in new and alternative markets. Additionally, it will contribute to high-tech job-creation in Denmark as SitaWare, our command and control platform, will be further developed for use in helicopters and for their interaction with troops on the ground. I expect this to raise a great deal of interest from around the world."
Systematic was founded in 1985 and today has 450 highly qualified employees in Denmark, the UK, the US and Finland. Its headquarters are located in Aarhus, Denmark, and it is the largest privately owned software and systems company in Denmark. Systematic’s key business areas are defence, healthcare, integration services and intelligence and national security.
Since 2011 AgustaWestland has signed a number of cooperation agreements with Danish companies in the aerospace and defence sector. This latest agreement with Systematic now means AgustaWestland is actively working with the largest and most important companies in the Danish aerospace and defence sector.
AgustaWestland has been the largest industry partner for the Danish aerospace and defence industry in the past decade, dispensing more than DKK 2 billion worth of offset and is continuing to work closely with Danish industry.
The AW159 is a new generation multi-role helicopter designed as a successor to the successful Lynx family of helicopters which are currently in service with 15 nations around the world, including the Royal Danish Navy. The AW159 is now in production for the British Army and Royal Navy. The helicopter offers Denmark a modern off-the-shelf solution that is fully compatible with all its existing ships.