Europe is unprepared for the risks of war with Russia or President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the United States from NATO and needs to increase spending on defense equipment, the head of Airbus said.
Guillaume Faury, CEO of Europe’s largest aerospace and defense company, said that in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, bringing war to Western Europe’s borders, the continent’s defense industry will be cut short. He said it was a “defining moment” for him.
He said European countries were too dependent on the United States for security and hardware, leading to a “sub-crisis” situation in key defense areas. He called on Europe and the UK to “join forces” and merge competing fighter jet programs.
Foley’s intervention comes amid growing threats from President Vladimir Putin, which makes military equipment from the Eurofighter Typhoon to helicopters and half of the world’s civilian jets. The Russian president recently told North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members that sending troops to fight in Ukraine risks triggering a nuclear war, and France’s Emmanuel Macron has opened the door to this prospect. It was a direct response to the president.
“We come from peacetime,” Foley told the Guardian. “I don’t think Europe yet has the level of preparedness needed for a conflict between Europe and Russia. Let’s call a spade a spade. And Russia seems to be building up its defenses.
“Almost 80 years have passed since World War II, and different systems have been introduced that are not actually intended to prepare for conflict, but rather to deter attacks by others. Potential If we want to prepare for different levels of engagement and conflict, we need to step up.”
Foley, a former military helicopter test pilot who took over as Airbus’ chief executive in 2019, said President Trump’s warnings about withdrawing from NATO are a major threat to Europe, both in terms of security and the availability of equipment. He said this should serve as a wake-up call. He is a former U.S. president and currently considered a Republican presidential candidate. asked Europe to increase defense spending And he recently said he would encourage Russia to attack NATO members it deems economically “delinquent.”
“As long as NATO is NATO and provides the level of protection that you would expect from NATO, that is a solid reality,” Foley said. “If we begin to believe that the reality could be different, we need to better anticipate this potential situation. “We issued the first warning for Trump 1. If Trump 2 If it’s of the same or greater nature in terms of expecting people to fend for themselves, we should take it seriously.”
In recent decades, Europe has become increasingly dependent on American hardware, contributing to the decline of its own industrial base. Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter jets are flying in countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. Boeing supplies the UK with Apache and Chinook helicopters, C-17 heavy-lift aircraft, P-8 Spy jets, and E-7 maritime patrol aircraft, all of which are manufactured in the United States.
MPs on Britain’s public accounts committee said on Friday that the government had no credible plan to fund the military, leaving it increasingly reliant on allies.
“If you want to be sovereign. To control our own future and what happens on Europe’s borders, Europe needs to be much more independent. ,” Foley said. “We have left a lot of things in the hands of others. We are critical of most of the different systems in Europe and we don’t cooperate enough to generate large-scale investment. We buy mainly from outside Europe and mainly from the United States.”
He said Europe’s development of a sixth-generation fighter must not repeat the mistakes of the past, when resources were divided between three competing aircraft: the Eurofighter, Sweden’s Gripen and France’s Rafale. He said European orders for the F-35 exceeded orders for the Eurofighter and Rafale combined.
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Britain, Japan and Italy are collaborating to build a new fighter jet called Tempest, with tank and jet maker BAE Systems, engine maker Rolls-Royce, helicopter systems maker Leonardo and European missile maker MBDA participating. . Meanwhile, France, Germany and Spain are developing rival future combat air systems, involving Airbus and Rafale maker Dassault.
Mr Foley said: “We are in a business where scale matters, so we need cooperation between European countries, including the UK.” Because the United States has scale, it adopted a single fighter jet. We chose three different fighters.
“It is clear that we need to find a way to work together as Europeans to have one very powerful capability for each type of weapon system. Is there any point in not coming together for security and defense? No, I don’t think it can be helped.
“This is the moment that will decide whether Europe is a defense and security player or not.”
