For its 2026 edition, ILA Berlin wants to establish itself as an unmissable event for European aeronautics-defense-space. From June 10 to 14, decision-makers and industrialists will gather there around the major current issues in the sector: European cooperation, commercialization of space, unmanned military systems, sovereignty, artificial intelligence… The honor of inaugurating the show will go to the Federal Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, eagerly awaited in the context of the German rearmament. Especially since Berlin does not hesitate to display its ambition to make the Bundeswehr the most powerful conventional army in Europe, supported by a strong national defense industrial and technological base (BITD). Friedrich Merz will have the opportunity to reaffirm his vision to the sector’s bosses, who will flock to ILA, including Guillaume Faury, executive chairman of Airbus.
If there was any need to confirm the growing weight of the defense sector, the Bundeswehr will be the largest exhibitor at the show. Apart from increases in the ordinary budget, the importance of Federal Defense has increased above all thanks to the promulgation on July 1, 2022 of the Sondervermögen. This fund then allowed an additional budgetary contribution of €100 billion for Federal Defense: 35 F-35A (€8.3 billion), 60 CH-47F Block II (€7.2 billion), Arrow 3 (€4 billion), Patriot PAC-3 MSE (around €4 billion)… Today, of the forty billion euros allocated to military aerospace, almost all of it has already been committed. Nevertheless, an announcement can never be ruled out, as Germany’s rise to power is certainly not over. This is how the ordinary budget of the ministry was used for the acquisition of 20 additional Eurofighters… the purchase intention of which was announced during ILA Berlin 2024 by Olaf Scholz, then German Chancellor.
