Like Unilever, but with fighter jets and missiles

In the 1990s there was a grand plan to combine many of Europe’s largest defence and aerospace companies into a giant capable of competing with American rivals. In the end, British Aerospace—now called BAE Systems—opted out of the plan. It sold most of its civil-aerospace side to EADS, the combined group formed by the rest, to concentrate on the military market. However, it emerged on September 12th that talks are under way about BAE joining forces with EADS after all.

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