BRUSSELS, April 7 (UPI) -- Insider-trading allegations probed at EADS
French regulators are investigating alleged insider trading at the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., Les Echos reports.
EADS executives and big shareholders allegedly shed their shares when they realized completion of the A380, a longstanding jetliner project, would be delayed once again. EADS and its executives have denied all charges.
The charges are not new for EADS. In 2006 a similar fire-sale by executives and major shareholders led to a 26-percent fall in EADS stock price that day. According to Les Echos, some 17 people are under suspicion.
Autorite des Marches Financiers hopes to complete the investigation by July 2009.
NATO looking into additional missile-defense shield
Following NATO's apparently successful conclusion of anti-missile defense shields in Poland and the Czech Republic, it is investigating an additional system to provide coverage for countries that won't benefit from the U.S. system.
Additionally, it called on Russia to cooperate with the U.S. system and even go as far as linking the systems up to one another.
The system, conceived and advocated by the United States, is designed to limit the threat from countries such as Iran and will not, in its current configuration, cover all NATO members. Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey won't be covered at all or only partially.
Thales wins $70 million U.K. submarine support contract
French firm Thales has been awarded a $70 million contract to support the British Royal Navy's submarine fleet, according to a statement.
The contract, which could increase in value, calls for periscope and optical instrument support for the Royal Navy's nuclear-powered submarines as well as its strategic submarines.
The contract was awarded to Thales UK, a Thales subsidiary. The deal follows many previous deals between the British Ministry of Defense and Thales, which has been closely involved in the production and maintenance of British submarines.
Sweden buys into NATO airlifting program
Sweden, which recently announced large defense budget cuts and a willingness to sell surplus military equipment, has taken another step in its creative budget reshuffling by joining NATO's Strategic Airlift Capability, Defense News reports.
The program also counts Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and the United States among its members.
The deal entails that Sweden will essentially lease NATO's strategic airlifting capabilities, three Boeing C-17 Globemaster heavy transport planes, for 550 flight hours a year. The planes will still belong to NATO but will be in the care of Sweden (on NATO's airbase in Papa, Hungary), which will use them to transport helicopters, fast attack crafts or combat armored vehicles.
The deal ties into Sweden's restructuring plans, which will aim to make its armed forces more compact but better able to quickly move to urgent missions worldwide.
