For BAe, the temptation to absorb its traditional rival was too hard to resist: with its purchase of Marconi, the British champion has diversified away from being just a platform builder to also having the technology to design and build the important platform systems.
Même la menace française de bloquer la transformation d’Airbus semblait ne pas pouvoir empêcher la fusion47 . Le rapprochement échoua cependant à la dernière minute quand GEC annonça la cession de sa branche électronique de défense, Marconi.