Irredundant and minimal covers of finite groups

Abstract

A cover of a finite non-cyclic group $G$ is a family $\mathcal{H}$ of proper subgroups of $G$ whose union equals $G$. A cover of $G$ is called minimal if it has minimal size, and irredundant if it does not properly contain any other cover. We classify the finite non-cyclic groups all of whose irredundant covers are minimal.