Dual-use tech: the Airbus example

At the end of 2024, the Group’s revenues were reported as €69bn. Around €12bn (17%) of this came from its Defence and Space division, a branch that produces a significant number of products aimed at both civilian and defence markets, principally earth observation satellites and drones.

Airbus has production sites across the world, with the largest being in France and Germany. It operates 12 critical assembly lines near Toulouse, Hamburg, Mobile (Alabama), Mirabel (Quebec), and Tianjin (China).

Dual-use products

Airbus strongly markets many of its products to both military and civilian customers, with perhaps the clearest example of this being its earth imagery satellites, notably the Pléiades line. The company describes Pléiades as an “ideal source of data for both civil or military projects”. It is marketed to defence and security customers for purposes such as threat monitoring, target identification, border control, and battle damage assessment, while its proclaimed civilian applications include urban planning, oil and gas exploration, critical infrastructure monitoring, agriculture, and forest management. Another line of Airbus earth imaging satellites, SPOT, is promoted for forestry, agriculture, geospatial intelligence and maritime surveillance. In addition, Airbus produces Vision-1, an imaging payload (attachment) for satellites aimed at the defence, security, maritime and agriculture markets.

The imagery from these satellites is made available to consumers on request via Airbus’ OneAtlas platform. The Polish Ministry of Defence is one customer, which already has access to make requests for imagery but has also ordered two of its own Pléiades Neo satellites and a ground-control station.

Airbus has won many European Union (EU) deals, in both civilian and military settings, perhaps unsurprising given its European roots and part-state ownership structure. In 2023, the company was awarded a share of a European Maritime Safety Agency framework contract to supply data from the satellites for policing, customs, and pollution monitoring purposes. In addition, SatCen, an EU agency that provides geospatial intelligence analysis to Member States, relies in part on Pléiades and SPOT data for its work. Pléiades and other Airbus satellites are used by SatCen for ‘general crime’ monitoring as well as defence purposes, such as analysis of military and paramilitary activity, and battle damage assessment. It also uses Pléiades Neo data to monitor the movements of migrants at European borders for EU border agency, Frontex.

Airbus further offers customers analytics services for object classification and change detection when using its satellite data. For instance, Indian start-up HyperVerge, which uses AI algorithms to analyse data obtained from surveillance cameras, satellites and documents, in 2021 partnered with Airbus to provide real-time analysis of its satellite imagery. HyperVerge’s tools monitor changes to buildings for the purposes of enforcing tax regulations and construction codes. Similarly, US firm Satelytics uses Pléiades Neo data to supply AI-powered change detection analysis and risk mitigation for the petrochemical, mining and forestry industries, listing BP, ExxonMobil, and Chevron among its customers.

According to the 2023 Airbus annual report, Google signed a major contract to use Pléiades Neo imagery in 2023. This was likely for its Google Earth and/or Maps applications, which source data from a variety of commercial providers. The millions of people that use these apps are therefore likely to rely on Airbus imaging technology on a daily basis.

Among the users of Airbus’ satellite systems are groups attempting to protect life and habitats. Yet, there is significant risk of the data being exploited by harmful industries to enable their work or greenwash their image. Since 2021 Airbus has partnered with the Connected Conservation Foundation on an annual ‘Satellites for Biodiversity’ award, which grants access to its satellite data to a variety of conservation projects. However, this effort is undermined by Airbus’ heavy marketing of its imaging services to the oil, gas, and mining industries.

One emerging use of commercial satellite data, including that of Airbus, is in human rights monitoring. For instance, in 2016 Pléiades data was used by Reuters to document deaths from famine among displaced people in Sudan; and in 2024 both Pléiades and SPOT data was used for a Human Rights Watch report into the destruction of Rohingya villages in Myanmar. But such sensitive data can also be put to distinctly non-humanitarian ends. In 2024 reports emerged indicating that front companies operated by the Russian state regularly purchased Pléiades Neo imagery, which was then used to attack Ukrainian critical infrastructure. There is power and responsibility too in denying access to satellite data: in 2023, Airbus was one of a number of commercial satellite providers accused of restricting access by newsrooms and researchers to images of Gaza. Airbus responded by stating it was subject to French and German laws governing satellite imagery data collection and dissemination.

Of concern is not only the applications of these products, but the ways in which they can be adapted or integrated into technology designed for other end uses. For example, Pléiades’ architecture has since been used by Airbus to build French military satellites, in collaboration with Thales Alenia Space. Airbus has used its plans to exploit its commercial satellite technology for the military to make the case as early as 2020 for greater public investment in dual-use developments, suggesting that China and the US are already ahead of the game in this respect, with the EU lagging far behind.

Airbus is one of two major contractors for G2 Galileo, the planned upgrade of the EU’s SatNav system. Similar to GPS, Galileo is a global navigation satellite system (GNSS), which enables location data to a multitude of user groups. At the time of writing, Airbus claims it has almost four billion users. The other major contractor for the upgrade is Thales Alenia Space (a joint venture of Thales & Leonardo).

A significant number of smartphones and tablets are now Galileo-enabled, meaning many of us use it on a daily basis for travel.

Galileo assists in the navigation of ships and aircraft, and in the event of an emergency, its sensors convey signals picked up from distress beacons to search and rescue centres. GNSS data is also used by drones, autonomous trains, and self-driving vehicles. It is a component in a range of civilian applications such as parcel-tracking; surveying and mapping; supply chain monitoring; theft detection; wildlife tracking; and precision agriculture, which uses autonomous and semi-autonomous farm machinery. Many of these applications use Galileo’s High Accuracy Service, which provides more granular location data than that required by the average smartphone. Meanwhile, Galileo’s atomic clocks enable accurate time stamping, facilitating the banking sector, stock markets and telecommunications industries.

Much is made of the fact that, unlike GPS, Galileo is under civilian control; however its Public Regulated Service (PRS) provides encrypted data specifically for law enforcement and intelligence services, and military forces in the EU. GNSS is enabling critical surveillance tools, facilitating the covert tracking of individuals’ movements, smart devices, or vehicle-mounted hardware; or overtly through Electronic Monitoring technology, such as ankle tags. GNSS is heavily relied upon in the defence industry as, besides its integration into drones, missiles use GNSS for guidance. Galileo’s PRS therefore provides important infrastructure for munitions such as those produced by MBDA, the joint venture between Airbus and Leonardo.

Other than its satellites, Airbus manufactures a range of drones marketed at both military and civilian customers, several of which are still in development. One of these is Sirtap, which Airbus calls an “easily-configurable” dual-use surveillance drone. Sirtap is marketed for a range of uses including “target identification”; surveilling the movements of migrants at borders; search and rescue; firefighting; and monitoring piracy, illegal fishing and drug trafficking. The datasheet specifies that it also has the capacity for communications and electronic intelligence and can be integrated with weapons. So far, deals have been signed with the armed forces of Spain, as well as the Colombian Air Force – with Airbus cannily marketing the product to the latter by displaying a model drone with Colombian livery at a military trade show in Bogotá. Serbian authorities were also reportedly interested in buying the technology.

Another dual-use product, Zephyr, is a HAPS (high-altitude platform station, or high altitude pseudo satellite) – essentially a solar-powered drone which can remain in the stratosphere for months at a time. Zephyr functions as a high-resolution earth imaging satellite and provides internet connectivity to remote areas. It is marketed for a broad range of applications, including border monitoring, law enforcement, mapping, military intelligence purposes and disaster management. Conceived by Qinetiq engineers, the technology is now produced by AALTO, one of Airbus’ UK subsidiaries. Zephyr is marketed at businesses, civilian buyers such as NGOs, and to defence and security customers, to whom it emphasises its surveillance capabilities. The UK Ministry of Defence was an early customer and the government of Kazakhstan is planning on buying Zephyr for environmental management purposes, and for “monitoring natural resources”. Frontex has carried out research studies on the “significant” potential of HAPS for border control purposes, with Zephyr among the products investigated.

In the area of manned aircraft, the Airbus C295 is a plane which the company says is:

“widely used for humanitarian and non-military missions, including disaster relief, search and rescue (SAR), and surveillance missions such as monitoring illegal immigration, drug smuggling, piracy and deforestation”.

The aircraft comes in a number of variants, and even these are designed to be configurable to the user. For example, Airbus says its maritime patrol variant, the C295 MPA, can be fitted with a host of sensors, communications intelligence capacities, and missiles. Airbus promotes the C295 to the military, other government customers and NGOs. Among the buyers are the armed forces of Egypt, Algeria, Mali, Oman, the UAE, India, Mexico and Brazil, as well as some undisclosed customers. The government of Saudi Arabia operates the C295 Armed ISR, a long endurance variant equipped with weapons and specialised in surveillance missions.

A mainstay of Airbus’ business has long been its helicopters, nearly half of which are sold to military customers. Airbus describes all of its helicopters as dual use, bar the NH90 and the Tiger. For instance, the H160 is primarily marketed at ferrying offshore oil and gas workers to rigs, VIP transport, and for use in law enforcement. In 2021, the French armed forces signed a deal to develop and purchase a military variant of the aircraft, H160M, which has a reduced acoustic signature, enabling more discreet missions. It is “weaponised for light attack operations” but can be “quickly reconfigured” to perform a range of other missions.

Partnerships & programmes

As we’ve seen, Airbus frequently enters into partnerships with other companies. By late 2024, it had 183 subsidiaries and shares in 59 joint ventures. Profits from investments in joint ventures and associates in 2024 totalled €350m, with the most significant being ArianeGroup, MBDA, and ATR.

ArianeGroup, a 50% joint venture with Safran, produces civil and military space launchers and defines itself as a “fundamentally dual-purpose company”. It also manufactures the M51 nuclear ballistic missile for the French military, whose thermally-resistant materials subsequently formed the basis of Ariane 5 – a launch vehicle for the European Space Agency – and of the brakes used in commercial aircraft, showing again the blurring of the lines between the military and civil spheres. In 2024, ArianeGroup’s revenue stood at €2.5bn.

Airbus also holds a 37.5% stake in MBDA, a joint venture with arms companies BAE Systems and Leonardo, specialising in the production of missiles. MBDA’s revenue in 2024 was €4.9bn. Besides MBDA, Airbus collaborates with BAE Systems and Leonardo as part of the Eurofighter consortium. This company produces the Eurofighter Typhoon military jet, a staple of NATO’s armoury.

Airbus is also one of the parties to the AirTanker joint venture, a military refuelling business which has gained notoriety in the UK for its suspected involvement in the scrapped Rwanda deportation scheme.

In 2024, Airbus announced that it would be coordinating four Research and Development (R&D) projects funded by EU Member States and the European Defence Fund (EDF), a European Commission body aiming to support collaborative defence research and development. The European Commission has long had a particular interest in dual-use technologies. One of the projects Airbus is coordinating is Space-based Persistent ISR for Defence and Europe Reinforcement (SPIDER), a €42m project to develop multi-mission, multi-sensor surveillance satellite constellations for the defence industry. Other parties to the initiative include Leonardo, Safran, Telespazio, Thales, SatCen, and Aalborg and TalTech Universities.

Since 2015, Airbus has also run an apparently independent venture capital subsidiary, Airbus Ventures, based in Silicon Valley. The firm invests in aerospace start-ups, notably drone technology and AI developers. Its portfolio includes: CesiumAstro, which sells phased array communication payloads for satellites, drones and missiles; LeoLabs, a space object intelligence firm whose customers include space agencies, defence departments and commercial satellite operators; AEye, a start-up which uses remote sensing and “automated targeting applications used by the military” for autonomous vehicles; and Bifrost AI, a 3D simulation firm using AI and synthetic imagery for predictive intelligence purposes, with proposed applications ranging from heavy industry to defence.

Other critical issues

Unsurprisingly given its role in the arms industry, Airbus has had its fair share of controversies. In 2020, the Group agreed to pay penalties exceeding $3.9bn to the US, the UK, and France to settle bribery charges, as well as violations of arms export controls. The company was accused of paying bribes to foreign officials from countries including China, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Ghana, in order to gain a business advantage over a period of at least seven years. The settlement amounted to one of the largest penalties ever paid for bribery in the US and Europe.

Airbus is facing a criminal investigation in the UK into potential violations of export control rules involving several of its British entities. The company has repeatedly criticised Germany over its ban on exporting the Eurofighter to Saudi Arabia due to the latter’s involvement in the war in Yemen. There is reportedly evidence that a Spanish subsidiary of Airbus has manufactured components for – or carried out maintenance on – Eurofighter and A330 MRTT refuelling tanker aircraft exported to the Gulf, where they have been used to perpetrate alleged war crimes on the people of Yemen.

MBDA and ArianeGroup’s role in supplying France’s nuclear arsenal has led some investors, such as Norway’s Government Pension Fund, to exclude Airbus from their investment portfolios.

People & politics

Airbus engages in extensive lobbying efforts. In fact, US transparency campaign group OpenSecrets found that in 2024 Airbus and its subsidiaries spent $3.5m on lobbying the Air Force, State Department, Navy, Treasury and other US federal entities. In Europe, Airbus’ declared spending on EU lobbying was €1.8m-€2m in 2023, and the company runs an EU Public Affairs office in Brussels for this purpose. Airbus and ArianeGroup both made submissions in support of an EU commission roadmap on “cross-fertilisation” between the civil, defence and space sectors. This roadmap aims to encourage “spin-offs of defence research into civilian life, but also spin-ins from civil technology research into defence” and identifies the critical role of developing space-based intelligence as the basis for “a very wide range” of dual-use purposes.

In 2024, Airbus companies donated several hundred of thousand dollars to electoral candidates in the US. It has been accused of revolving-doors recruitment policies to advance its interests with government agencies. For example, in 2021, the European Ombudsman found that the European Defence Agency (EDA) should not have allowed its former Chief Executive, Jorge Domecq, to become a Strategic Advisor at Airbus Defence and Space due to conflicts of interest.

Who’s behind the brand?

• SOGEPA SAS (controlled by the French state) owns ~11%
• GZBV (controlled by the German state) owns ~11%
• SEPI (controlled by the Spanish state) owns ~4%
• Capital Group (via Capital Research and Management Company) owns ~10%
• BlackRock owns ~3%

Appendix: Further examples of DU technology

PAZ radar imaging satellite was built by Airbus for the Spanish government with a consortium of 18 companies. It is operated by Hisdesat, a Spanish firm of which Airbus is a shareholder. The European Space Agency describes PAZ as having been built to “serve the security and defence needs of the Spanish Government, while including civil applications”. PAZ is integrated with an AIS (Automatic Identification System) receiver, enabling earth imagery data to be cross-referenced with maritime traffic information.

In the same orbit as PAZ are the TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X radar imagery satellites, which were produced by Airbus in partnership with the German Aerospace Centre. All three satellites are designed for geospatial intelligence for defence and security missions, and multiple other applications such as urban planning, environmental monitoring, civil engineering, and emergency response purposes.

Styris is a coastal surveillance platform based on data fusion from a variety of sensors. It is aimed at preventing unlawful maritime activities, including smuggling and illegal migration. It is also sold as a means to monitor maritime traffic for safety reasons, facilitate search and rescue operations, protect oil and gas infrastructure and undersea cables, and monitor protected habitats. The product forms the basis of the French Navy’s SPATIONAV surveillance system.

Strat-Observer is an optical camera system designed to be attached to HAPS products, such as the Zephyr. It is promoted for multiple uses, ranging from environmental monitoring, defence purposes and disaster management. Case studies provided include the “pivotal role” the payload plays in border monitoring for defence, and the control of illegal migration.

Eurodrone is a large, long-endurance drone which is reported to have received the largest share of EU funding for defence technology, with €100m in public funds allocated to the product in 2019. Delivery is behind schedule, with launch now planned for 2030 so it remains to be seen precisely what uses the drone is put to.  Eurodrone is a collaboration between Airbus and arms manufacturers Leonardo and Dassault Aviation, on behalf of several European governments via the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR). Airbus touts its “multi-mission capability ranging from IS(TA)R [Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, Reconnaissance] to attack”, while Leonardo boasts that it represents a “key feature of future air combat systems” and says it will also be used for civil purposes. Although it is vague about what these might be, Leonardo does mention that it will gather “information of the same type as satellites, but from lower heights”.

Aliaca is a line of small surveillance drones produced by Airbus subsidiary, Survey Copter. It is geared towards military Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) missions; combatting drug trafficking, illegal migration, illegal fishing, and pollution; and for search and rescue operations. The company states that it is “available to government and commercial customers.” Aliaca drones have so far been bought by the French navy.

Capa-X is sold as a highly customisable drone. With the strapline “as many configurations as missions”, it is promoted not only to the military but for “any parapublic or civil entity.” Another Survey Copter product, it is marketed for surveillance, search and rescue missions, and light cargo drops. Not yet on the market, its launch is planned for late 2025.

Flexrotor is a vertical take-off surveillance drone, which is promoted for maritime warfare, search and rescue, humanitarian missions, border security, agriculture and wildlife observation.

Helix, produced by Airbus subsidiary ArianeGroup, is described as Europe’s “largest private space surveillance network”. Helix operates 23 (with 7 more to come) optical and infra-red monitoring stations to identify and track space objects for defence and civil users.

H145 is an Airbus helicopter marketed for a range of uses, from VIP transport, to surveillance, patrol or rescue missions by law enforcement. For the latter, Airbus promotes the aircraft’s infrared technology and additional payloads, such as an electro-optical system, hoists and searchlights. It has been delivered to the police in Ukraine, Bahrain, Germany, Canada, South Australia, and New York. It has also been purchased by Georgia’s border police; the UK’s MOD and the Indonesian Air Force (where it appears to be used principally for training purposes); ambulance services in the UK, Denmark and Norway; and search and rescue services in New Zealand and China.

Airbus produced a military version of this aircraft, H145M, which it describes as a “battlefield support” helicopter and promotes for a wide range of intelligence and attack missions (it can be fitted with missiles in “attack configuration”). Operations offered include search and rescue and combatting illegal fishing or piracy. The H145M has been supplied to the armed forces of Germany, Cyprus, Ireland, Hungary, the US, Serbia, Thailand and Luxembourg, as well as the military and police of Belgium.

H125 is a helicopter marketed as an easily reconfigurable, “multi-mission workhorse”. It is strongly marketed to law enforcement (for surveillance, pursuit, border patrol, and search and rescue – aided by optional payloads such as searchlights and electro-optical sensors). Other possible uses cited include private aviation, air ambulance services, crop spraying, wildlife monitoring, media, and firefighting. The H125 is in widespread use among North American police departments for aerial patrol. It has also been reportedly used by the Brazilian Navy and Air Force, the Ivory Coast Air Force (leased through a proxy), the Kenyan Air Force, the Lesotho Defence Force, and Chile’s navy and carabineros.

H125M is the military variant of this helicopter which can be fitted with a range of weapons systems. It is aimed at intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions and “light attack tasks”. It has been reportedly bought by the armed forces of Pakistan, Benin and Malaysia, while Serbia’s military is reportedly looking to set up a local production facility for the aircraft. In addition, the H125 has formed the basis of the specially-built military helicopters, the AH-125 and MH-125.