Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale (French pronunciation: [aeʁɔspasjal]) was a major French state-owned aerospace corporation that developed and manufactured both civilian and military aircraft as well as rockets, missiles and satellites. It was incorporated in 1970 as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale (English: National Aerospace Industrial Company) through the merger of three state-owned aerospace companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation and SEREB. The company was headquartered in the 16th arrondissement of Paris.

During its history, Aérospatiale was involved with many high-profile aerospace programmes, including the Concorde supersonic airliner, the Ariane space launch vehicle, and the Airbus A300, the world's first twin-engined widebody airliner.

As a consequence of the peace dividend of following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, much of the European aerospace and defence industry began to consolidate, with Aérospatiale's break-up accelerated by the French government's efforts to privatize many state-owned companies.

In 1992, Aérospatiale and Germany's Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) each spun off their helicopter businesses, which merged together to form the Eurocopter Group, later renamed Airbus Helicopters. In 1999, the Aérospatiale's satellite manufacturing division was acquired by Alcatel to form Alcatel Space, later renamed Thales Alenia Space. Aérospatiale's remaining assets were merged with the aerospace, defence and telecommunications division of the French conglomerate Matra to form Aérospatiale-Matra in July 2000. One year later, in 2001, Aérospatiale-Matra merged with DASA and Spain's Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), later renamed Airbus.

The majority of Aérospatiale's assets are now part of Airbus or its related joint ventures.