WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The collapse of the proposed merger between BAE Systems Plc and EADS will shift the focus to smaller deals among global weapons makers as companies strive to keep revenue rising in the face of cuts in military spending by the United States and Europe.

Industry executives and bankers do not see other mega-deals on the horizon for now, after the $45 billion UK-French-German talks collapsed on Wednesday. The failure showed how easily a deal of that scale can be derailed by competing interests of different countries, despite commercial logic.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The collapse of the proposed merger between BAE Systems Plc and EADS will shift the focus to smaller deals among global weapons makers as companies strive to keep revenue rising in the face of cuts in military spending by the United States and Europe.

Industry executives and bankers do not see other mega-deals on the horizon for now, after the $45 billion UK-French-German talks collapsed on Wednesday. The failure showed how easily a deal of that scale can be derailed by competing interests of different countries, despite commercial logic.

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) – The collapse of the proposed merger between BAE Systems Plc and EADS will shift the focus to smaller deals among global weapons makers as companies strive to keep revenue rising in the face of cuts in military spending by the United States and Europe.

Industry executives and bankers do not see other mega-deals on the horizon for now, after the $45 billion UK-French-German talks collapsed on Wednesday. The failure showed how easily a deal of that scale can be derailed by competing interests of different countries, despite commercial logic.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – EADS is disappointed over the collapse of its merger talks with BAE Systems Plc, but remains “undeterred” in its drive to expand in the U.S. defense market, Sean O’Keefe, chief executive of EADS’ U.S. unit, said in an interview.

“The fact that this did not work its way to completion … does not mean there will be any slowdown of any effort to look more broadly at other opportunities that may come along,” he told Reuters on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – BAE Systems insists there is “no magic number” for French and German government shares in a possible merger with EADS, but U.S. experts say anything over 10 percent could ruin the chances of winning approval from U.S. regulators.

Britain has told France and Germany repeatedly that their respective holdings in the merged firm should not exceed 10 percent, according to several sources familiar with the process.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – BAE Systems insists there is “no magic number” for French and German government shares in a possible merger with EADS, but U.S. experts say anything over 10 percent could ruin the chances of winning approval from U.S. regulators.

Britain has told France and Germany repeatedly that their respective holdings in the merged firm should not exceed 10 percent, according to several sources familiar with the process.

WASHINGTON/PARIS (Reuters) – The U.S. government said on Saturday it had received European Union documents on funding for the Airbus (EAD.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) A350 after requesting them from the World Trade Organization over a month ago in an ongoing transatlantic dispute over aircraft subsidies.

“The compliance panel directed the EU to provide documents and briefing upon a request made by the United States more than a month ago, and we received the documents just yesterday,” a spokeswoman for the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office said.

WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) – To win approval for their planned $45 billion merger, EADS and BAE systems must persuade Washington to let a pan-European behemoth control some of the most sensitive U.S. defense contracts, without triggering a political backlash.

Defense industry experts say it should not be difficult for Washington to protect its security interests in allowing the deal to go ahead, but the politics could become complicated if Boeing and other competitors lobby against the deal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Talks between the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) about a fifth order of F-35 fighter planes have been elevated to a senior level as the two sides debate the last $100-million-plus dividing them, according to multiple sources familiar with the discussions.

“We’re not that far apart,” said one of the sources, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the negotiations, which have been underway for 10 months. “We should be able to close this. It’s not intractable.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tighter military budgets in the United States and Europe reduced the revenues of top weapons makers by one percent in the first half of the year and are likely to continue to depress sales in the full year, a new study by Deloitte LLC showed.

Defense companies in the top 20 global aerospace and defense (A&D) companies reported a $1.3 billion drop in revenues in the first half, after a 3.3 percent decline in 2011, according to the report published on Tuesday. The top 20 companies account for about 71 percent of total global industry revenues, Deloitte said.