Safran Landing Systems is expanding its global MRO network across three continents to support Boeing 787, Airbus A350, and Airbus A330 landing gear, aiming to alleviate severe industry-wide capacity bottlenecks.

In a press release issued June 10, 2026, the company detailed the scale-up of its facilities in Molsheim, France; Singapore; and Querétaro, Mexico. The expansion arrives as the aviation maintenance sector faces a projected capacity crisis, with industry reports indicating landing gear overhaul lead times have stretched to between six and 12 months.

Scaling operations across three continents

The push to increase capacity follows the 2025 launch of simultaneous overhaul campaigns for the Boeing 787 and Airbus A350 programs. To support this volume, Safran completed a 6,000-square-meter (64,583-square-foot) expansion at its Querétaro site last year. The Mexican facility now employs approximately 375 personnel, a significant increase from the 80 employees present when the site opened in 2010.

For the Boeing 787 program, Safran confirmed that all three strategic MRO sites are now fully operational. The facilities have already processed and delivered their first overhauled landing gear sets to operators, including Avianca and Hainan Airlines.

Airbus A350 and A330 program milestones

The Airbus A350 fleet is currently approaching its first major heavy maintenance cycles, dictated by a 12-year Time Between Overhaul (TBO) limit for its landing gear. Safran reported that its Molsheim facility recently finalized its first sampling campaign for the aircraft type. This process involves the complete disassembly and thorough inspection of a landing gear set prior to its 12-year TBO limit to validate the maximum service life of the components.

Beyond the newest generation of widebody aircraft, Safran is also expanding support for the established Airbus A330 family. The company expects its Singapore, Molsheim, and Querétaro sites to be fully operational for the A330 program, including the A330 Enhanced and A330neo variants, by 2027.

AirPro News analysis

We view Safran’s aggressive capacity expansion as a necessary response to a looming bottleneck in the global supply chain. The aviation maintenance industry is currently navigating a landing gear overhaul capacity crisis projected to last through 2028. Thousands of next-generation widebody aircraft delivered over the past decade are now entering phases of their operational lifecycle that require extensive landing gear inspections and overhauls.

The current six to 12-month lead times are driven by a combination of high demand and a shortage of specialized tooling, certified technicians, and Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) approved processes. By localizing support across three continents, Safran is positioning itself to capture this surge in widebody heavy maintenance demand while helping operators avoid extended aircraft-on-ground (AOG) scenarios.

Sources: Safran Group

Airbus Defence and Space and Ukrainian technology firm SkyFall signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on June 12, 2026, to integrate combat-tested drone interceptors into European command-and-control networks. The agreement, finalized at the International Aerospace Exhibition (ILA) in Berlin, aims to build a multi-layered air defence ecosystem capable of countering high-volume drone and missile strikes.

Announced via an Airbus press release, the strategic alliance pairs Ukrainian interceptor hardware with the Airbus Air C2 (Command and Control) system. The signing ceremony was attended by German Federal Minister of Defence Boris Pistorius and Airbus Defence and Space CEO Michael Schoellhorn, underscoring the political and strategic weight of the partnership within the European defence sector.

Integrating combat-tested technology

SkyFall brings direct battlefield experience to the partnership. According to the company’s statement in the press release, SkyFall interceptors have neutralized approximately 10,000 Russian drones in live combat environments. This operational history provides validated data on the effectiveness of the Ukrainian hardware in countering saturation aerial threats.

According to reporting by Ukrainska Pravda, the technical integration focuses specifically on linking SkyFall’s P1-SUN interceptors with the Airbus Air C2 architecture. This combination is designed to bridge the gap between rapid-cycle innovation developed under wartime conditions and traditional, large-scale European defence systems.

Schoellhorn noted that countering modern saturation attacks requires technological agility, multinational interoperability, and the deployment of battle-tested capabilities.

“Combining Airbus’ system-of-systems and C2-expertise – especially in integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) – with Ukraine’s invaluable combat insights and field-proven technologies, is another building block in creating a resilient, multi-layered air defence ecosystem – at the speed of the modern battlefield,” Schoellhorn said in the release.

Expanding European air defence networks

The SkyFall agreement is part of a broader push by Airbus to consolidate and modernize integrated air and missile defence (IAMD) capabilities across Europe. During the same week at ILA 2026, Airbus signed parallel agreements with other defence contractors to expand its technological ecosystem.

On June 10, 2026, Airbus and Diehl Defence formalized an agreement to intensify cooperation in IAMD. The following day, on June 11, 2026, Airbus partnered with Alta Ares to integrate counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) solutions into the Airbus Fortion IBMS battle management suite.

Together, these alliances indicate a strategic shift toward modular air shields capable of addressing threats ranging from small, low-cost drones to advanced ballistic missiles.

AirPro News analysis

We view the Airbus and SkyFall MoU as a critical indicator of how the European defence sector is adapting to the realities of modern warfare. Traditional aerospace procurement cycles often take years, but the integration of SkyFall’s P1-SUN interceptors demonstrates a willingness by legacy primes to adopt rapid-cycle, field-proven technology. By plugging Ukrainian hardware directly into the Airbus Air C2 system, European nations can bypass lengthy development phases for drone interception and focus on scaling production and software integration. This approach bolsters immediate continental defence while providing Ukrainian defence firms with a viable pathway into the broader NATO procurement ecosystem.

Sources: Airbus

Swiss battery manufacturer H55 delivered its certification-grade Adagio Battery Modules to Pratt & Whitney Canada on June 9, 2026, marking a critical hardware transition for the RTX Hybrid-Electric Flight Demonstrator program.

The delivery, announced in an H55 press release, transitions the 200 kilowatt-hour (kWh) energy storage system from technology development to active aircraft integration. The demonstrator is based on a modified De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Dash 8-100 regional turboprop. The program targets a 30 percent improvement in fuel efficiency and an equivalent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions compared to current regional Commercial-Aircraft.

Integration and testing timeline

The RTX demonstrator propulsion system pairs a Pratt & Whitney Canada thermal engine with a 1-megawatt electric motor developed by Collins Aerospace. H55’s battery modules will power the electric motor during optimized phases of flight to reduce the load on the thermal engine.

Pratt & Whitney Canada initially selected H55 to provide the battery pack for the regional hybrid-electric flight demonstrator program on May 19, 2022. The integrated hybrid-electric Propulsion system and batteries subsequently completed a first full-power ground test on June 16, 2025. With the production-conforming modules now delivered to the Pratt & Whitney Canada facility in Montreal, the program moves toward final integration and flight testing. AeroTEC will support the flight test campaign at its facility in Moses Lake, Washington.

Certification-grade architecture

In March 2026, H55 confirmed that Pratt & Whitney Canada built the demonstrator’s compliance baseline on the H55 architecture. The system has accumulated more than 2,000 flight hours and undergone validation through European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) test campaigns.

H55 Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer Sébastien Demont emphasized the industry requirement for industrialized manufacturing and operational reliability as Electric-Aviation matures.

“Aircraft Manufacturers today require more than battery technology. They require certification-grade safety architecture, industrialized manufacturing, operational reliability and scalable systems integration. Delivering production-conforming modules into the RTX Hybrid-Electric Flight Demonstrator validates H55’s ability to meet those requirements at an industrial scale and marks an important step in bringing our certification-grade energy storage technologies to a broader range of commercial aerospace applications.”

AirPro News analysis

The delivery of flight-ready, certification-grade hardware remains a significant bottleneck in aerospace electrification. By supplying modules that already align with EASA validation frameworks, H55 reduces the certification risk for the broader RTX demonstrator program. We view the integration of a 1-megawatt electric motor with a 200 kWh battery system on a Dash 8-100 airframe as a highly pragmatic testbed. It allows the industry to evaluate thermal management, battery degradation, and hybrid power-sharing in a representative regional airline profile before committing to clean-sheet aircraft designs.

Sources: H55