On Tuesday April 12, the Airbus general meeting renewed Guillaume Faury, 54, for three years as executive chairman, which he has held since 2019. If the group is known to be the world number one in commercial aviation, it is also a major player in defense, the eleventh in a market dominated by the Americans. Faced with geopolitical upheaval, Mr. Faury insists on the urgency of equipping ourselves with a European security and defense system and launching major cooperation programmes.
What will the new geopolitical deal created by the war in Ukraine change for the Airbus group?
The situation has changed. The war was theoretical, it has become very concrete and threatening. This puts back at the center of the game the urgency of equipping ourselves with a European system of security and defense of citizens, but also of common values. This awareness is much stronger, especially in Germany and Eastern Europe. We are moving towards more Europe of defence, and faster, even if its construction has already accelerated for several years. Europeans will be able to defend themselves by their own means if they develop a defense industry at the highest level in the world.
In the immediate future, do you expect a strong increase in orders?
There will be orders in defence, and I hope as few as possible outside of Europe. To achieve this, we must constrain ourselves and set up programs in the service of sovereignty, of the autonomy of European capabilities. It is sometimes easier to buy off the shelf abroad; it does not build capacity over time. The recent purchase of American F-35s by Germany is a good illustration of the lack of continuity of a program. In the 1980s, Berlin equipped itself with Tornado, an aircraft manufactured by Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom. Unfortunately, we did not build the European solution for this specific nuclear mission [de transport de la bombe américaine dans le cadre de l’OTAN, qui sera remplie par le F-35]. When we make programs, we contribute to building the defense industry; when you buy off the shelf, for example in the United States, you weaken it, even if certain capacities do not exist in Europe, such as heavy transport helicopters.
You have been criticized for choosing a non-European engine for the Eurodrone, one of Airbus’ major programs…
Today, there is no national drone solution in Europe. This is proof that without cooperation, there can be no sovereign capacity in Europe. On the engine, it is a false debate. We are convinced that we made the right choice with the Italian Avio [préféré au français Safran], which is a European company, with an American shareholder, General Electric. Avio offers a solution that meets a requirement of independence, in terms of design, production and certification in Europe. We made an industrial choice. Sometimes, when political constraints have weighed too heavily, they have led to poor industrial choices. And we have long paid the price!
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