DASA

DASA, short for Deutsche Aerospace AG, was a major German aerospace and defense company that formed as the umbrella for Daimler-Benz’s aerospace interests. Established in the late 1980s, it brought together several German aviation and space divisions, including Dornier, Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm (MBB), and related activities, under a single corporate structure. The company operated across civil aircraft components, space systems, and defense electronics, and it played a significant role in European aerospace programs, including collaboration on programs such as the Eurofighter Typhoon.

In 1998 the German parent Daimler-Benz merged with Chrysler to form DaimlerChrysler, and the aerospace division adopted the name DaimlerChrysler Aerospace AG (DASA). The change reflected the parent company’s new corporate identity. DASA continued to be a key partner in European aerospace projects and maintained a substantial production and engineering footprint in Germany.

In 2000, DASA merged with France’s Aérospatiale-Matra and Spain’s CASA to form the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). As a result, DASA ceased to exist as an independent entity, with its assets and activities integrated into EADS. The EADS group later evolved into what is now Airbus Group, and subsequently Airbus SE. The German components of DASA largely became part of Airbus Defence and Space, the defense and space division of the new group.

DASA’s legacy lies in the consolidation of Europe’s aerospace industry at the turn of the century and the creation of a pan-European platform that ultimately contributed to today’s Airbus. See also Airbus, EADS, Aérospatiale, CASA, Dornier, MBB.