In partnership with French cybersecurity firm Neverhack, Airbus will lead the design, deployment, and maintenance of sophisticated cyber training platforms, as well as deliver tailored education, coaching, and high-stakes cyber defence simulations. This initiative marks a significant reinforcement of France’s cyber defence readiness, aligning with the country’s growing focus on digital sovereignty and national security in the information age.

Empowering the Cyber Defence Command

Central to the programme is the Cyber Defence Academy of the Cyber Defence Command (COMCYBER), located in the Rennes region, which will receive a fully equipped cyber training centre. This facility is designed to prepare military personnel through specialised tracks for different cyber roles—enhancing the armed forces’ operational maturity and response capabilities.

The training platform will simulate realistic, military-grade cyber warfare environments. These include attack-defence scenarios for tactical and strategic military operations, replicated through large-scale national and multinational exercises such as Orion and DefNet.

Combating the Full Spectrum of Cyber Threats

Participants will be trained to counter the full range of modern cyber threats, including malware attacks, denial-of-service operations, data exfiltration, social media manipulation, and disinformation campaigns. Advanced ‘life simulations’ will recreate legitimate, accidental, and malicious user behaviours to increase realism and sharpen situational awareness.

Each training use case will emulate complex IT and C4ISR environments (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance), including embedded systems and weapon platforms.

Collaboration with the Innovation Ecosystem

To stay ahead of emerging threats, Airbus will collaborate with start-ups and SMEs in fields such as artificial intelligence. This flexibility will ensure the training platform remains at the cutting edge, evolving to counter next-generation cyber warfare tactics.

Airbus Defence and Space brings nearly a decade of experience to this domain through its CyberRange platform—already deployed across French ministries, educational institutions, and sensitive industrial sectors. The CyberRange is used in major initiatives like “Passe ton Hack d’abord”, a cyber awareness event involving over 7,000 students, and is integrated into cybersecurity training across 25 partner schools.

From Simulation to Real-World Defence

Beyond simulation, Airbus also supports the Ministry of the Armed Forces with Security Operation Centres (SOCs) in mainland France and deployable Tactical SOCs in external operations (OPEX), safeguarding critical communication and information systems in theatre.

As cyber threats grow in complexity and scope, Airbus Defence and Space’s expanded role positions it at the heart of France’s digital defence infrastructure—building a skilled, responsive, and resilient cybersecurity force for the modern battlefield.