Despite its fourth place among European defense companies (Defense News Top 100 ranking), the trend is towards confidence.“We need to speed upâ€even declared Guillaume Faury, executive president of Airbus, at the opening of the Defense Summit, organized by his teams on the Manching site (Germany), where the final assembly lines of the Eurofighter are located as well as a center dedicated to drones. “We’re not starting from nowhere”displays the boss of the European group. He evokes “a moment when new technologies (connectivity, cyber, AI, propulsion) are accelerating” and où “a lot of things change at the same time”. Which requires, according to him, to “don’t spend in a fragmented way”.
Airbus – whose Defense & Space branch has already seen its financial results increase by 11% in 2025, to €13 billion – is thus resolutely positioning itself on the different segments of the military equipment market. It must be said that the geopolitical context is favorable to rearmament and defense spending. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), these increased by 2.9% between 2024 and 2025 to reach €2,887 billion globally.
Focus on duality
To strengthen its place in the defense aeronautics market, Airbus DS insists on its strategy of focusing on dual platforms, whether by developing military solutions from civil aircraft (A330 MRTT), or by designing an airframe for different uses (H160). Regarding the H160, Airbus Helicopters boss Matthieu Louvot says that “It’s a telling example of how [Airbus] delivers sovereignty »by offering a dual platform, to remain competitive – particularly on the civilian market. “This is the model we want to promote”a-t-il affirmé.
The market opening up for this 6-ton class helicopter is vast according to Airbus Helicopters: transport, medical evacuations, firefighting, search and rescue, law enforcement and military missions, private aviation. Certified by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (Easa) in 2020, the H160 has several customers from more than a dozen countries, including Brazil, Canada, China, the United States, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and the United Kingdom. France, for its part, is implementing a fleet of six H160s leased to the National Navy by Babcock, the Gendarmerie received in December 2025 the first of ten H160s ordered at the end of 2021.
