[1] In 2015, the German Krauss-Maffei Wegmann (KMW) and French Nexter merged under a joint holding company KMW+Nexter Defense Systems.
[2] Other major European defence contractors include: Then British Prime Minister Tony Blair came under pressure from President Bill Clinton to select Raytheon's future missile to arm the Eurofighter,[3] however the UK government selected the European Meteor air-to-air missile.
[4] French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have signalled their countries intention to co-operate on the development of a future combat aircraft to be produced as a replacement for Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon.
[5][6] The European Union has adopted a code of conduct[7] with the objective to inject transparency and competition into the military procurement.
It is administered by the EDA and under its scope are contracts under Article 346 of TFEU, of at least €1 million and with the exclusions of weapons of mass destruction, cryptographic equipment and other procurements.