A spokesman for EADS's defence unit Cassidian said the joint venture would be dissolved, confirming a report by German daily Handelsblatt.

The newspaper said the venture had vied for an order worth about $6 billion to provide surveillance technology for the soccer world cup and the Summer Olympic Games to be hosted by Brazil in 2014 and 2016, respectively, but it lost out to rival Embraer.

The spokesman added that Brazil remained an important market for Cassidian and that the EADS unit remained in the running to provide sea border security in the country, an order also worth several billion dollars.