Defense: Safran brings out the heavy artillery to double its turnover by 2030

If Safran is sitting on a jackpot in terms of MCO and MRO in the field of civil aeronautics due in particular to the increase in its installed base of engines, the French equipment manufacturer is also benefiting from a growing international defense market (80% of its order book). Equipment & Defense revenue (10.5 billion euros over the first nine months of 2026) recorded solid growth of 22.5% (15.7% over the third quarter), Safran said in a press release published on Friday. This division mixes both civil and military activities (optronics, positioning solutions, navigation and time, drones, remotely operated munitions).

According to Safran, turnover from original equipment activities, which represents 60% of its sales, increased by 16.2%. It is driven “mainly by defense activities (AASM Hammer guided bomb, optronics, inertial navigation systems, missile seekers), illustrating the growing demand from our export customers,” explains Safran. Safran's defense activities "benefit from a buoyant market, and we are strengthening our production capacities to prepare for future growth", confirmed the group's general director, Olivier Andriès, quoted in the press release.

Defense turnover (propulsion and equipment) accounted for nearly 18% of the group's total turnover in 2025 (31.5 billion euros). Or 5.6 billion euros last year. It should see strong growth in 2026 thanks to Safran Electronics & Defense, which is targeting turnover of around 5 billion euros this year, according to a Safran financial document. The group is also counting on its propulsion activities dedicated to defense, thanks to the ramp-up in production of the Rafale (M88 engine), which will be doubled between 2025 and 2029, but also helicopter turbines (NH90, Tigre, H225M, H145M, AW101/109/189K). Which then generates MCO and MRO activities.

One billion investments between 2025 and 2028

In the field of defense, rising budgets on a global scale have boosted Safran's activities, pushing it to significantly increase the production of electronic equipment, missile propulsion systems, sensors and intelligent AASM Hammer (Modular Air-Ground Armament) munitions. To support this ramp-up, the group has already invested 850 million euros in its production equipment over the period 2022-2026. It plans to spend around one billion euros on seven projects for new factories or expansions of current capacities between 2025 and 2028.

And the figures are edifying. Safran, which is the leader in Europe for the production of missile engines, has already tripled its production between 2022 and 2026 and intends to increase it to reach a factor of seven between 2022 and 2030. The group notably produces the engines for the Franco-British Scalp/Storm Shadow (MBDA) cruise missiles, Exocet MM-40 Block 3C (MBDA) sea-sea missiles, Naval Strike Missile (Kongsberg) and RBS-15 (Saab) as well as engines for BQM-167/177 (Kratos) target drones. Safran has “invested a sum of around 100 million euros” in a factory based in the south of France, explained Olivier Andriès.

Machine-translated from French