With small to medium aerospace & defence supplier companies continuing to feel the impact of the global credit crunch, Thales, Europe's largest defence electronics group and an aerospace parts manufacturer, has announced plans to monitor the financial situation of its smaller suppliers and to help prevent any failures.

Denis Ranque, Chief Executive of Thales, said that they have sent out a survey to suppliers to establish "which ones might be affected".

"We have large clients but suppliers of all sizes. As far as the smaller ones are concerned, we have launched a study to see who might be affected by the credit crisis, and if we have a supplier which is failing, then we will do what we can to prevent that happening", said Mr Ranque.

Another Thales senior executive suggested that industrial groups may be forced to acquire certain suppliers so as to secure critical development programmes.

Earlier in London, David Pierce Hallahan, International Director at executive search firm Team Capital A&D, told reporters: "As we move further down the supply chain, any failures will have a disastrous knock on effect and will ultimately compromise the capability of Europe's aerospace and defence companies to deliver".

This move by Thales comes after last weeks announcement from Airbus that they are stepping in to assist Latcore in an attempt to avoid further setbacks in its ambitious production programme.

The Franco-German aircraft maker is planning to make an early payment for research and development work by Latcore, the French parts maker and Airbus risk-sharing partner, on the A380 superjumbo.