An Assesment by Dr.Stefan Zoller CEO of EADS Cassidian

Defence Turkey:Cassidian is one of the largest defence and security companies in Europe where does your company stand today?

To date more than 28.000 people are working for Cassidian around the globe supporting every day the people whose mission is to protect the world. We are providing our customers with state of the art defence and security solutions and are a reliable partner to many forces.

Besides our home countries Germany, France, Spain and UK we are currently focusing even more on emerging countries all over the world which have a tremendous need mostly for security applications.

 

 

Defence Turkey:How does this strategic change apply to countries such as Turkey?

Cassidian has implemented a strong internationalization policy. By going into a country we count on long term partnerships with strong local players. That is equivalent to research and development activities that are carried out directly in the countries. A clear target is to embed our local subsidiaries in the global manufacturing chain of Cassidian. A fact that could apply also and especially for Turkey. Including Turkish made development and manufacturing in re-export programs out of Turkey would as well be in perfect line with the strategy of the Turkish Undersecretariat for Defence to double the current defence exports until 2016.

 

 

Defence Turkey:Do you have a specific example in mind for such partnerships ?

Especially our activities in the sector of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could become a role model. Turkey's need for ISTAR  capabilities and the know-how of Cassidian as European leader in UAS development would be a perfect match. Our next generation Talarion UAS meets perfectly Turkish civilian and military requirements, as it is for example able to perform missions in non-segregated areas. CASSIDIAN is willing to associate Turkish industries as core partners to this new European major programme and advocates Turkey to join the other European nations.

 

 

Defence Turkey:You often refer to your company as a Large System Integrator, could you please define it and give us example? 

Large System Integration (LSI) is the jewel in the crown of today's security business. As a Large System Integrator Cassidian is combining  the know-how to design, develop and implement overall system solutions by integrating across all levels – be it platforms, equipments or services. Furthermore we take up our responsibility towards our partners and suppliers who contribute a major part of our designed system solutions.

LSI means managing complexity at an extremely high level. Only a few companies worldwide have this capability. Cassidian is market leader in this field. Clear evidence is the implementation of the world's largest integrated nationwide security network in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia building up a security infrastructure for more than 9.000 km of borderline including both, land and sea borders.

 

 

Defence Turkey:Another success story seems to be your worldwide business for professional mobile radio networks. Which kind of networks are we talking about here?

Cassidian has so far deployed 206 secure communication networks in 68 countries. Our people are installing TETRA nationwide networks for police and security forces as well as regional or mobile networks for large sports events. Our communications networks were used for example during the 2010 soccer world championships as well as at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2009. Also emergency call centres in the US are within our portfolio. In short – everywhere where sophisticated and secure communication solutions are in demand Cassidian is at its customers' disposal. 

 

 

Defence Turkey:Is their a specific technological field were Cassidian is pushing right now ?

Besides our traditional strengths we are currently enlarging our capabilities in Cyber Security.

Prepare networks and communication tools for possible attacks of hackers is an extremely urgent need which applies not only for private companies but also for governments and public organizations.

Cyber Security is a fast moving market and a very challenging task. Our clear aim here is to set off  to make also Cassidian's cyber security capabilities unrivalled in Europe.