15 June 2026
As Eurosatory 2026 opens, and against an accelerating geopolitical backdrop, Sopra Steria, a major Tech player in Europe, is publishing its 'Defense, Security & Space' trend book, decoding the shifts that are reshaping European defence.
Its central thread: in a 'war of saturation', superiority is no longer measured by the power of platforms and software, but by the ability to decide and act faster than the adversary. For Europe's armed forces, agencies and industry, strategic autonomy is no longer a distant horizon: it has become an immediate operational imperative.
Why now: strategic value has shifted
In Ukraine as in the Levant, drones costing a few thousand euros are destroying equipment worth millions, and software updated in a matter of weeks is gaining the upper hand over systems designed to last twenty years. The figures compiled by Sopra Steria bear out this shift: $417 billion as the global cost of disinformation (15 per cent of French GDP), a ratio of 1 to 20 between an attack drone and the missile sent to intercept it, 70 to 80 per cent of Ukrainian losses caused by drones, and €800 billion in capability needs identified by the European Commission's Readiness 2030 plan.
The trend book identifies ten trends grouped around three imperatives:
- Monitor and absorb saturation
- • Win the war before the war: act in the information domain
- • Strengthen air defense through counter-drone capabilities
- • Give Europe a space defense capability
- • Orchestrate multi-domain military action
- Act faster than the adversary
- • Build a sovereign, secure and trusted defense AI
- • Share and exploit data in operations
- • Move from exploration to action with quantum
- Build and regenerate over the long term
- • Restore strategic depth
- • Integrate drones into combat at scale
- • Structure new models of defense innovation
These trends describe what is already unfolding in the theatres of operations. The only question that remains is one of tempo.
How do you keep the advantage?
The answer lies less in a catalogue of technologies than in the ability to connect systems, data and players.
