• H2020
• Industrial Leadership

The digital revolution has opened the world up to all. No sector has contributed more to this than the aviation industry, experts say.

Aviation and space technologies have been driving this revolution, according to Philippe Migault, senior research fellow at the French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS).

Migault, who specialises on Russian, military, and defence industry issues, said: “[Aviation] must adapt to the increasingly high standards set by its customers throughout the value chain, and manage the arrival of new players who can offer breakthrough solutions based on new forms of digital technology. There are many strategic challenges to face. But all the players in air transport, business aviation, and civil and military aeronautics are also beneficiaries of this transformation.”

The aviation sector is committed to a new business model that develops and commercialises Big Data, whilst providing secure lines of communication between aircraft, satellites and ground control.

Migault continued: “The question of cybersecurity is crucial, as much in the civil as in the military context. Whether it is about preventing the hacking of a drone or civil aircraft by a terrorist group or enemy power, the issue is the same.

“As it happens, civil and military needs are becoming more and more similar. Combat pilots work, just like their civilian colleagues, in a system of aeronautical, satellite and ground systems that help co-ordinate the missions of each.”

This transformation, then, is complementary for all actors and stakeholders. The defence industries, military and space aviation in particular, have improved civil aviation through transfers and technological innovation; features found in civil aviation are now, likewise, often applicable to military and space sectors.