By Tim Hepher
PARIS (Reuters) -Airbus told shareholders on Wednesday that European nations on need to "get their act together" on strategic autonomy and said it stood ready to help shore up Europe's shaky industrial cooperation on defence, but appealed for governments to back promises with factory orders.
The chairman of Europe's largest aerospace group, Rene Obermann, told investors last year's invasion of Ukraine by Russia had been a wake-up call.
"It has highlighted the essential role that defence plays in society and that European nations need to get their act together for higher levels of strategic autonomy. The sooner the better," he told a shareholder meeting monitored by webcast on Wednesday.
The invasion, which Moscow calls a special operation, has catapulted defence spending higher and rekindled a debate over Europe's dependence on the United States for its security.
"We are committed to playing a role of enabler for more co-operation in defence, which we believe is one of the key prerequisites to make sure that Europe maintains its strategic autonomy, Obermann said.
The rearming of Europe could accelerate campaigns for new business, Obermann said. He also cited sovereign capabilities for which Europe does not want to depend on the United States.
"But some of these budgetary decisions are yet to unfold and materialise into concrete orders," he added.
DEFENCE DIVIDEND
French President Emmanuel Macron is pursing an agenda to beef up Europe's "strategic autonomy" separate from the U.S.-led NATO umbrella, with eastern allies trusting the United States more for their defence.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz last year upended decades of reticence over arms spending by pledging 100 billion euros of purchases. But some allies have criticised Berlin's decision to move ahead with U.S. weapons purchases, including F-35 fighter jets.
Paris and Berlin each hold about 11% of Airbus, whose defence catalogue includes fighters, helicopters and airlift.
Airbus leads several multinational programmes, including the A400M airlifter and Tiger attack helicopter, but faces doubts over commitments from France and Spain for the troop plane while Germany has effectively withdrawn from the next phase of Tiger.
Reuters reported last year that the board had conducted a defence review that could lead to more strategic partnerships.
On Wednesday, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said Airbus remains open to strategic partnerships with tech group Atos after abandoning talks to buy a 29.9% stake in its cybersecurity unit Evidian.
He added that civil airline traffic is on course to break above pre-pandemic levels buoyed by China's recovery, but voiced disappointment with last year's slow recovery of supply chains.