Facing New Challenges

By the 21st century, French aerospace faced new challenges. Airbus, now a fully integrated company rather than a consortium, competed toe-to-toe with Boeing. The A380 super-jumbo, strongly backed by France, proved that European aerospace could tackle any technical challenge. But like Concorde, it misjudged the market. Airlines preferred efficient twin-engine aircraft to giant four-engine hubs.

The A350, Airbus's response to Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, showed lessons learned. Built with composite materials, powered by ultra-efficient engines, and sized for market demand rather than engineering ambition, it became a commercial success. French engineers led development of its advanced aerodynamics and systems integration.

Military aerospace remained strong. The Rafale fighter, developed by Dassault, proved that France could still produce world-class combat aircraft independently. Export success in India, Egypt, and Greece validated the French model of maintaining sovereign defense capabilities while collaborating on civilian projects.

The space sector evolved with commercialization. Ariane 6, developed to compete with SpaceX's reusable rockets, represented a different philosophy—optimizing reliability and specific mission requirements rather than pursuing reusability at all costs. Whether this proves correct remains to be seen, but it reflects the French approach of thoughtful engineering over Silicon Valley disruption.