At this year’s Paris Air Show, the fighters are taking the rear seats. Unmanned and autonomous technology drives a future of defense and controls the conversation at Lebrutz Airport in northern Paris.
With 2,400 exhibitors and 300,000 visitors from 48 countries expected, the world’s largest aerospace event opened against the backdrop of global tensions.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine is now in its fourth year, tensions are rising between Israel and Iran, making it urgent for Europe to modernize its defensive capabilities.
On Monday, Italian giant Leonardo and Turkish biker Technologies announced a joint venture to jointly develop a new generation of unmanned systems, with the first drone expected to be delivered in 2026.
“Europe is quite behind when it comes to unmanned systems,” said Roberto Chingorani, CEO of Leonardo.
“First of all, I think the target is to fill in the gaps… we need to develop different platforms with different payloads and provide them to different countries. That will already be a very important target in the short to medium term,” Shingorani explained to the reporter group.
Cingolani stressed that Europe will soon need not only drones, but also land and sea-based systems. “The Ukrainian War has completely changed the landscape,” he said. “We know we need to be ready.”
For defense consultant Xavier Tytelman, the turning point for this edition of the fair is the industrialization of high-intensity battles.
“In the past, we’ve said, ‘We’re going to make a drone.’ Now we actually offer drones at clearly defined prices.
Previous delays in Europe on large drone platforms may no longer be significant. A smaller, more agile system that is cheaper to produce and easier to deploy has proven to be critical on the battlefield.
Beyond strategy and scale, sovereignty has become the crucial theme that will determine this year’s edition.
Push to develop “itar-free” (International transportation under weapons regulations) Equipment – Free from US export restrictions – is displayed throughout the exhibition area.
“There’s one basic element here: the resurrection of sovereignty. There are many booths labeled “Itar Free.” This means that there are no American components, so the US cannot prevent it from using its own equipment, just like it did in Ukraine, with missiles that could not be used because it contained US parts,” explained Tytelman.
“Now around us, Europeans are organizing themselves to become more sovereign, independent, collaborative, complement each other’s technical capabilities and achieve 100% industrialization of Europe. That’s another big, deep structural tendency.”
