Thales has ended negotiations with Sweden’s Saab Space.

According to newspaper Les Echos, Thales has decided that Saab Space’s equipment specialisation will not bring enough synergies to its joint venture with Finmeccanica, Thales Alenia Space.

Without naming sources, the paper said question marks over the maintenance of Swedish Government budgets played a part in Thales’ decision, and the risk of competitor EADS Astrium was judged not to be “too dangerous”.

By staff writer