ASD welcomes clear signals in von der Leyen’s address

ASD welcomes clear and resolute messages delivered by Commission President von der Leyen in her 2025 State of the Union address. Her renewed call for Europe to take greater responsibility for its own defence and security, reduce strategic dependencies, and strengthen its industrial base by supporting competitiveness reflects the urgency of the moment.

To deliver on these ambitions, Europe’s aerospace, security and defence industrial ecosystem – which comprises thousands of companies of all sizes – has a pivotal role to play.

A strong and innovative European defence industry is indispensable to Europe’s security. The industry is fully committed, capable, and ready to continue developing critical capabilities, ramping up production, and delivering state-of-the-art equipment and solutions to meet European defence needs.

Europe must drastically reduce critical dependencies on non-European sources to strengthen its resilience, industrial scale, and strategic autonomy.

ASD welcomes continued support for joint procurement, industrial investment, and the development of new common defence projects. Aggregating demand and harmonising requirements across European countries will reduce complexity, enable economies of scale, improve efficiency, reduce costs, shorten delivery times, and enhance interoperability.

Europe’s security planning must also include the protection of critical infrastructures – the foundation of resilience against evolving hybrid threats.

ASD notes with great interest the announcement of the Qualitative Military Edge programme and the Drone Alliance with Ukraine as part of continued support for Ukraine and building synergies with the European defence industry. Earlier this year, ASD signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the former Ukrainian Ministry of Strategic Industries to foster industrial cooperation between the European and Ukrainian defence industries. This partnership reflects a shared commitment to strengthening Europe’s defence industrial ecosystem. 

ASD also welcomes the Commission’s focus on the Clean Industrial Deal. Europe’s civil aeronautics industry - building on the strength of its world-class aircraft, engine, equipment, and Air Traffic Management (ATM) manufacturers – remains one of the few high-tech sectors where Europe leads globally. As a powerhouse of innovation, it has the potential to drive the decarbonisation of a global sector and reinforce Europe’s industrial leadership. This leadership should not be taken for granted and Europe therefore urgently needs an industrial strategy for civil aeronautics to enable the sector to stay competitive in the longer term and in light of fierce competition at global level. Europe’s future competitiveness will depend on its ability to innovate and responsibly industrialise next-generation technologies.

Europe’s ambitions must be backed by sustained political and financial support based on ring-fenced budgets. Momentum is building, but implementation must accelerate.

ASD stands ready to work with the Commission, Member States, and partners across Europe to turn ambition into coordinated action.