Aerospace, Aviation And Dual-Use Air Systems

European aerospace is no longer a discrete civil aviation sector separated from defence aviation, airspace security and industrial resilience. It is a strategic infrastructure composed of aircraft integrators, engine manufacturers, avionics suppliers, software-certification systems, sensor houses, unmanned-platform developers, counter-drone architectures, maintenance networks and air traffic management capabilities. The central issue is whether Europe can design, certify, produce, upgrade, protect and sustain critical air systems without unacceptable dependency on external suppliers, export permissions, software rights, propulsion technologies, mission systems, maintenance chains or digital infrastructure. This report analyses the European aerospace and dual-use air-systems base through four connected layers.

It first defines aerospace as a strategic-autonomy asset rather than a conventional industrial sector. It then examines the core technological pillars, including aircraft manufacturing, propulsion, avionics, materials, drones, sensors, counter-drone systems, ATM, U-space and MRO. The third section assesses the European regulatory, funding and programme architecture, including Clean Aviation, SESAR, the European Defence Fund, EASA, PESCO, OCCAR and the relevant EU legal framework. The final section identifies the segments that matter most for European airpower, defence readiness, critical infrastructure protection, industrial resilience and strategic capital allocation.

The European aerospace and dual-use air-systems base should be treated as strategic infrastructure rather than as a collection of separate civil and defence markets. The civil aeronautics and space ecosystem generated annual turnover of €126.4 billion in 2022, including €114 billion in aeronautics, and supported more than 400,000 jobs, according to the European Commission’s Transition Pathway for the Aerospace Ecosystem. In parallel, an EPRS note drawing on ASD data estimated EU-27 defence-industry turnover at around €148 billion in 2024, exports of roughly €48 billion and direct employment of around 500,000 people.