The Air and Space Academy having noted, through a study of the many recent examples, that air warfare scenarios without advanced combat aircraft are no longer feasible, considers that Europe is running the risk of losing its advanced air power independence, in spite of the fact that the combat aircraft industry is a driving force for advanced technologies and qualified employment

How to avoid this imminent demise, faced with stiffer and stiffer international competition? How to protect the strong industrial base which still exists today but which must be maintained through concrete demonstrators and European development programmes?

If Europe wishes to secure its future strategic air power independence and thus maintain its place in the newly emerging multipolar world, urgent action must be decided on and funded.

The Air and Space Academy organized an international forum in May 2013 at the Ecole Militaire in Paris. AAE in collaboration with CEAS (Council of European aerospace societies), bringing together a panel of high-level political, industrial and operational policy makers in order to take stock of this vital issue.

AAE prepared a summary of the discussions that took place during the forum, enhanced by recommendations, which together constitute an Opinion of the Academy. This document was distributed to all concerned European policy-makers sufficiently in advance of the European Council on European defence of 19 and 20 December for these ideas and recommendations to be taken into account as much as possible on that occasion.

The present paper contains the text of AAE’s Opinion with, in an appendix, the programme of the original forum.