The eurosam Joint Venture (JV), backed by its three shareholders MBDA France, MBDA Italia and Thales, is developing a new generation of long-range surface-to-air systems based on ASTER missiles (the SAMP/T NG ground system, the successor to the PAAMS & LRR naval system and the ASTER B1NT missile), with a new management team formed by Anne Diaz de Tuesta, Alexis Grenier and Mirko Leonardi.
Anne Diaz de Tuesta, former Administrator and Head of the JV’s Programmes, was appointed Managing Director of eurosam on 1 September 2023. A graduate of the Ecole Polytechnique and ENSAE (Supaero), she has held a series of operational management positions at the DGA (the French defence procurement agency), the Strategic Defence Directorate (now DGRIS - Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy), the Directorate General for Enterprise in Bercy and MBDA, all in very international environments.
On 1 August 2023 Alexis Grenier stepped in as a new Administrator and Commercial Director for eurosam. An Ecole Centrale graduate, he has developed deep Defence Industry experience throughout a very internationally-focused career. He joined the Thales Group in 2006 and was previously CEO of MOSS.
Mirko Leonardi was appointed Administrator and Head of Programmes on 1 September 2023 from his previous position with the eurosam JV as Customer Support and Services Department Head. After graduating from Italy’s Accademia Navale, he held posts firstly in operating units and then in the Italian Defence Staffs before joining MBDA Italia in 2020.
eurosam‘s new management team will have the task of fulfilling all naval and land programs contracted with Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) in order to deliver the state-of-the-art surface-to-air defence systems to the French, Italian and British armed forces. It will be working in new buildings in an attractive and modern working environment. The team will also continue to promote European cooperation in air defence and showcase the excellence of the programmes developed by eurosam to potential export customers.
eurosam was established in June 1989 as a joint venture of former companies which today have become MBDA and Thales, European leaders in missiles, systems and radars, endowing it with major expertise in terms of solutions for air defence. eurosam is the industrial prime contractor and system design authority for the development, production, marketing, sales and in-service support of a range of medium and long range naval and ground-launched air-defence missile systems also known as Future Surface-to-Air Family of ASTER missile systems.
These systems were developed under contract from the French and Italian Governments, who in the late 1980s had come to similar conclusions as to their air-defence operational requirements. This cooperation has been enlarged to the UK in 1996.
