Defense: at Eurosatory, Europe puts itself in a war posture

Armored vehicles escorted by drones, cannons in action, deafening explosions and dust even in the stands: the Eurosatory defense exhibition opens Monday near Paris in a Europe which is preparing for a war on its soil, beyond Ukraine.

On the eve of the kick-off of this global land defense meeting which takes place until Friday in Villepinte, north-east of Paris, the dynamic demonstrations reserved for the press under a blazing sun showed what a high-intensity conflict could be.

“We are preparing to experience a fight of the type that the Ukrainians are very courageously leading,” summarizes for AFP General Philippe de Montenon, commander of land forces and operations and Land Commander for Europe.

Same story with the curator of the biennial show Charles Beaudouin, former senior official of the French Army. In an interview with AFP, he evokes the “potential”, relayed by numerous observers and senior French officers, of a “window of opportunity” for Vladimir Putin to launch “an offensive” elsewhere in Europe, as the Ukrainian front stabilizes.

Compared to the previous edition in 2024, “the probability of a shock in the East against Russia is increasingly strong” and “our priority is to be ready for this shock, starting this evening”, according to General de Montenon.

– No tank without drones –

This combat is “extremely consuming of ammunition and also of human lives. It is droneized, robotic, digitized,” he adds.

In Villepinte, drones are part of all the demonstrations.

The tanks, faced in Ukraine with the threat of cheap drones which have profoundly called into question their use on the battlefield, appear here wearing anti-drone protection cages.

Anti-drone systems “are more present” at Rheinmetall, the German king of tanks, admits Mathieu Dumontet of Rheinmetall Canada, interviewed by AFP after a demonstration. For him, the tank is “not obsolete” if it is accompanied by autonomous systems and protected against drones.

In France, the Army, which only had 4,000 drones at the end of 2025, is “in the process of acquiring 14,000”, underlined Olivier Coquet, head of its technical section.

“Sufficient” number to train the soldiers, believes Philippe de Montenon, while each brigade now has a cell which trains the drone pilots.

– Ukraine, Israel: expertise sought –

Ukraine’s expertise will be highly coveted at the show, which welcomes 80 Ukrainian companies compared to ten for the previous edition in 2024.

They will present their drones, robotic systems, but also deep strike missiles, proven in the war against Russia.

“The Ukrainians are so far in advance that we can only copy them,” according to Charles Beaudouin. He recalls that it is “Ukrainian and not American specialists” who have been invited to the Gulf countries, targets of Iranian drones since the start of the war in the Middle East at the end of February.

However, partnerships with the Ukrainians are relatively rare at this stage, especially in France.

On Friday, Airbus teamed up with Ukrainian drone pioneer SkyFall on the sidelines of another defense show in Berlin: the European giant will bring its expertise in command and control operations, while SkyFall will provide its battlefield-proven drone technologies.

It remains to be seen whether Eurosatory will mark an acceleration of this type of cooperation.

Private Israeli companies are authorized this year to exhibit “defensive” weapons while in 2024 France had initially decreed a “total” ban on Israeli participation, due to the war in Gaza.

With their very efficient “Iron Dome” anti-missile defense system which inspires even the United States, the Israelis will therefore be able to promote capabilities “which we have never needed so much”, according to the show commissioner.

He warned against “ambiguous stands” also displaying banned, offensive weapons, suggesting such participants would be banned from the show.

© 2026 AFP