Airbus CEO rejects zero dependence on US

Airbus chief executive Guillaume Faury told El País that Europe cannot realistically buy “everything here” in the short term, even as governments talk up “strategic autonomy” under the pressure of rearmament. Speaking at Airbus’s Getafe site near Madrid, Faury framed the question as one of degree: “Do we want to achieve zero dependence on the U.S.? I’m not sure that’s the best approach,” while noting how much sophisticated defence equipment Europe still sources from America.

The comment lands in the middle of a procurement cycle where political slogans collide with industrial arithmetic. Europe’s defence push is generating order flow for aircraft, helicopters and systems integration, but autonomy is not a switch; it is duplicated capacity. Building European alternatives to American sensors, avionics, engines, cloud systems and munitions means paying twice: once to keep legacy supply chains running, and again to fund new production lines, certification, and stockpiles. The cost shows up as higher capex for primes, higher unit prices for air forces, and tighter terms for suppliers asked to invest ahead of firm orders.

Airbus is positioned on both sides of that ledger. In Spain, the company is expanding activity across civil and military programmes without adding new plants, Faury said, and pointed to the next major industrial decision point: replacing the A320 family in the next decade. On the defence side, Spain has recently placed large orders under its Special Modernization Programs, including NH-90 helicopters and work tied to the Future Combat Air System (FCAS), a sixth‑generation fighter effort with France and Germany that is already strained by disputes over design authority and whether the end product is one aircraft or two.

Those disputes are not just political. A single platform concentrates volume and learning curves; two platforms preserve national champions and duplicate engineering teams. The bill does not disappear—it shifts to taxpayers through procurement budgets, to airlines through higher prices for dual‑use components, and to subcontractors who must meet security‑of‑supply requirements while competing against larger US ecosystems.

Faury’s argument is that Europe can buy more European, but it cannot pretend the dependence is optional on today’s timeline. The FCAS target date is 2040; the current inventory is what governments will fly and maintain through the next crisis.