As president and CEO of Alenia North America Inc, Giuseppe Giordo is responsible for the company’s military and commercial operations in North America, including industrial investments and collaborations. He has led in the negotiation of joint ventures with major U.S. defense companies for the C-27J Spartan program and spearheaded the sale of C-27J Spartans to Greece.
Giordo has been with Alenia since 1990. He has extensive experience in the management of international collaborative programs. He managed several major military undertakings, including the A-400M and the AV-8B Harrier II Plus programs.
Prior to becoming CEO, Giordo served as the vice president of marketing and North American operations for Alenia Aeronautica S.p.A. He previously served as the head of Alenia Aeronautica’s international marketing, as the regional director for Europe, Africa and South America and as the sales director for the Eurofighter export programs. From 2000 to 2003, Giordo served as the director of international marketing and oversaw the production and distribution of marketing campaigns. From 1998 to 1999, he was employed by Alenia Aerospazio, Divisione Aeronautica, in the position of director, international market development for Europe, southern Africa and Brazil. Prior to that, he worked for that company as the director of trade development, the business development manager, the international and research program commercial manager, and the business manager for the AV-8B program.
Q: Can you tell us a little about Alenia North America and how its products are relevant to the military?
A: Alenia North America is a subsidiary of Alenia Aeronautica and part of the Finmeccanica group of companies. Alenia has decades of experience in the aeronautical business having built, maintained or overhauled more than 12,000 military and civilian aircraft. The mission of Alenia North America is to represent the industrial and commercial interests of Alenia/Finmeccanica in the U.S. and Canada in the fixed-wing sector of aeronautics. We have engineers working across the U.S. on a variety of commercial and military programs such as the new Boeing 787 dreamliner and the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter. Our long-term goal is to become prime contractor in some segments of the business where we believe we have technologies and products that can compete with American technologies and products, or where U.S. companies do not have any products.
Q: In your opinion, what makes Alenia unique among its peers?
A: Alenia is unique in the aerospace sector because we have remained independent in the market and we have developed cutting edge technology that has enabled us to develop our own products and to partner and invest in strategic programs globally. Alenia has developed world-leading products such as the C-27J and the ATR 42 MP. In addition to this we are major partners of Boeing in the commercial aircraft market and a significant supplier to Airbus. While we are based in Italy as part of the Finmeccanica group of companies, we have positioned ourselves as a global company and established significant ties with U.S. industry. This concept of partnership is one of several factors that have enabled us to remain independent and develop such world-class technology.
Q: Why did Alenia decide to partner up with L-3 Communications to form Global Military Systems to compete in the U.S. Army and Air Force’s Joint Cargo Aircraft program?
A: We believe the key to delivering on the U.S. Army and Air Force’s requirements for the Joint Cargo Aircraft will be to provide the best long-term value. Our team’s focus for JCA is providing the Army with the best platform, the best systems and the best life cycle support available today. L-3 Communications enhanced our team’s ability to provide this best value solution because of its capabilities and experience, including its outstanding results as a provider of logistics support for the U.S. Army.
Q: Why do you feel the C-27J is the best aircraft for the JCA competition?
A: A true military transport aircraft is designed to fulfill military requirements and to operate from unprepared airfields and in hostile conditions. In this environment, things like an aircraft’s speed, ruggedness, versatility and survivability are what matter. When compared to other twin engine aircraft in its class, the C-27J is the fastest, most rugged, versatile and survivable aircraft. No other aircraft in its class can boast interoperability with both CH-47s and C-130s, no other aircraft in its class can deliver the payload [at] the range it can, in the speed it can. The C-27J is a warfighter. In addition to this, the C-27J is backed by the best team with proven capabilities and experience dealing with the U.S. Army and Air Force.
Q: Looking ahead, what new products or programs is Alenia North America working on with relevance to the military?
A: Alenia North America, as part of the Finmeccanica Group of companies in Italy, is playing an important role in the Joint Strike Fighter program with our engineers as part of Lockheed Martin’s Integrated Product Teams helping to reduce the weight of the aircraft and design the center wing box. Our company has significant experience working with composite materials and is working with the JSF team to leverage this expertise for manufacturing of the aircraft. We have also proposed to establish a second final assembly line in Italy, under Alenia’s management, for the European fleet of Joint Strike Fighters.
