Paris Air Show opens amid tense geopolitical context

Missiles from the Safran group at the Paris Air Show, in Le Bourget, France, June 15, 2025. SIMONE PEROLARI FOR LE MONDE

Since its inception in the early 20th century, the Paris Air Show, the world’s oldest and largest aerospace event, has always brought together the closely linked civil and military sectors of aviation. But for the 55th edition, from June 16 to 22, the defense industry will hold the largest share of the booths at the Parc des Expositions of Le Bourget, northeast of Paris.

While the war in Ukraine had already marked the June 2023 edition (the event is held every two years), the geopolitical context has since grown even more fraught. Donald Trump’s threats to end American military support for Kyiv led the European Union to launch a rearmament plan in March 2025. The war in Gaza and the escalation of airstrikes between Israel and Iran since the night of June 13 have further darkened the atmosphere surrounding the show.

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Stéphane Troussel, the Socialist president of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis, where the air show is held, along with all of the department’s left-wing MPs, said they would refuse to participate in the show’s opening on Monday, June 16, due to the presence of Israeli companies. “You cannot, on the one hand, claim to support human rights and, on the other, roll out the red carpet for a state challenged by the International Criminal Court for the risk of genocidal acts,” wrote Troussel on X on June 12.

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