Group Represents Europe’s Land Defence Industries
At Eurosatory 2018 in Paris on 11 June Gianpiero Lorandi, Managing Director of Leonardo’s Defence Systems Division, handed chairmanship of the European Land Defence Industry Group (ELDIG) to Thomas Weise, Head of EU and NATO Affairs at Rheinmetall. Chairmanship of the group rotates every two years between member companies.
ELDIG serves as a sectorial group for the land defence industry under the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), which represents more than 3,000 companies in 19 nations with 847,700 employees. ELDIG represents over 100,000 employees and aims to strengthen the land industries’ position in Europe and support the relationship and dialogue with EU authorities and institutions.
“These last two years have been quite intense and productive, which allowed us to accomplish our goals satisfactorily regardless of this period of significant change in the European defence and security industry. Following the launch in June 2017 of a European defence Fund, ELDIG successfully supported cooperation of the initiatives funded by the European Union and implemented by the European Defence Agency. […] We have worked to transform ELDIG, in order to improve the integration of our Sectorial Group into the wider ASD dynamics. Now I am happy to hand over the lead of ELDIG to Dr.Thomas Weise of Rheinmetall and wish him well with the challenges ahead. I also want to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to the members of ELDIG for their professionalism, for their friendly cooperation and for the impressive results achieved during Leonardo’s presidency,” commented Mr. Lorandi.
“Cooperation is the core of our Association and its industry representatives are essential in this effort. Therefore, I would like to warmly thank Mr Lorandi for the excellent work he has done during his chairmanship. It was fortunate for us to rely on his leadership in our discussion related to European Defence, especially to European Land Defence Industry. I would also like to congratulate Dr. Thomas Weise of his assumption of the chair of the ELDIG. I am confident that under Mr Weise’s guidance, we will continue to strengthen ASD’s development as a driving force for our sector,” added ASD Secretary General, Jan Pie.
