Europe’s airpower future is evolving. Here’s what to know.
Across Europe, fleets of aircraft are aging out just as defense budgets — and threats from bad actors — are rising. That’s created an inflection point where the militaries of Europe are trying to figure out how best to move forward with airpower modernization. Is the future manned? Unmanned? Is it pan-European, or will countries go their own way? It’s a lot to unpack, which led Breaking Defense to film a new roundtable series in London to try to sort it out.
Breaking Defense Editor-in-Chief Aaron Mehta is joined Breaking Defense Europe co-editors Tim Martin and Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo, along with noted aviation expert Douglas Barrie of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Keep an eye out for future episodes by going to Breaking Defense and Breaking Defense Europe.
European militaries are currently engaged in discussions about airpower modernization as their aircraft fleets age and defense budgets rise. The focus is on whether future airpower will be manned or unmanned, and whether it will be a pan-European effort or country-specific. A roundtable series has been initiated to explore these issues further.
- European aircraft fleets are aging out.
- Defense budgets and threats are rising in Europe.
- Discussion on the future of manned vs unmanned airpower.
- Roundtable series filmed to address airpower modernization.