AD2S · 2026

Agoris analysis · updated September 2026

Key takeaways

• "Salon Européen des activités technico-opérationnelles de l'ASD" (European trade show for the technical and operational activities of the ASD): AD2S brings together, over three days, the armed forces and technical services, aerospace and defence industry players, MCO and aeronautical maintenance operators, and public institutions.
• Positioning as stated by the organiser: "AD2S is the only event in Europe dedicated to the support and services of defence aeronautics held within an operational air base."
• Next edition: 2nd edition, from Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 September 2026, at Base aérienne 106 in Bordeaux-Mérignac.
• Organisation: abe (advanced business events) and its aerospace-defence division BCI Aerospace, under the aegis of the ministère des Armées et des Anciens Combattants (Ministry of the Armed Forces and Veterans) and the Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The trade show presents itself as being placed "under dual État/Région oversight".
• Figures stated by the organiser: over 150 exhibitors, over 3,000 professional visitors, over 30 conferences and workshops. At the 2024 edition, 18 countries were represented.
• A constraint to know before booking: Base aérienne 106 is a military zone with strictly controlled access. A printed personal badge and valid photo ID are required at the entrance.

Who exhibits

Typical profile

The offering is centred on maintien en condition opérationnelle (MCO, operational readiness maintenance) and MRO for military aircraft fleets, not on platforms or weapon systems. Two families of exhibitors coexist. On the public side: the armed forces, the DGA, the DMAé, the Service industriel de l'aéronautique, the air gendarmerie, and representatives of the Sécurité civile's and Customs' aerial technical units. On the private side: large groups, mid-caps, SMEs, micro-businesses, start-ups, business groupings, associations and clusters.

The fields covered range from maintenance technologies (robotics, inspection drones, additive manufacturing, combat damage repair) to the digital transformation of MRO (predictive maintenance, AI, simulation, cybersecurity, data analysis), as well as support organisation and logistics, human factors and training.

Notable exhibitors

The preliminary list of 2026 participants, as of 22 July 2026, is published by the organiser. It notably includes Airbus Defence & Space, Airbus Helicopters, Thales, CS Group France, KNDS Nexter Electronics, Hensoldt Nexeya France, Spherea Test & Services, Rohde & Schwarz France, Senior Aerospace, Smiths MRO, TLD Europe and Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI). Institutions, clusters and training players round out the line-up: DMAé, GIFAS, Aerospace Valley, Aerocampus Aquitaine, Aerocentre, Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Bordeaux Métropole, Ville de Mérignac, France Travail.

Dassault Aviation, Airbus, Thales, Sabena Technics, MBDA and Safran are also listed as industrial partners of the event.

View the official list of participants

Quality of the audience

Access is reserved for professionals in the ASD (aerospace and defence) sector and subject to accreditation, and it is free for institutional and industrial procurement decision-makers. The trade show explicitly targets armed forces MCO managers, technical and maintenance directorates, aeronautical logistics managers, procurement and programme managers, aerospace and defence industry players, and technical and engineering experts. The combined constraint of accreditation plus military access control mechanically filters the audience: this is a trade show built for decision-making density, not for volume.

Events & community

Conference programme

The conference series, named AD2S Summit, forms the throughline of the trade show. The provisional 2026 programme is built around a single theme: MCO in the face of high-intensity engagement.

Three highlights on 22 September: a keynote by Général d'armée aérienne Jérôme Bellanger, Chief of Staff of the Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace, entitled "Le MCO, facteur de puissance aérienne" ("MCO, a factor of air power"); a panel discussion, "Approches institutionnelle et industrielle du MCO aéronautique de combat en haute intensité" ("Institutional and industrial approaches to high-intensity combat aeronautical MCO"), bringing together Airbus Helicopters Spain, Dassault Aviation, MBDA France and Thales DMS France; and a keynote by a representative of the European Commission (DG DEFIS) on the European perspective. On 23 September, the Direction de la Maintenance Aéronautique opens the day on "global support contracts", followed by a panel discussion on the economics of MCO with the SIAé, Airbus Defence and Space, Dassault Aviation, MBDA, Thales, Safran Aircraft Engines and Safran Helicopter Engines. The panel discussions are moderated by Général (2S) Jean-Marc Laurent, director of the Chaire Défense & Aérospatial.

The inauguration and official opening speeches, on the afternoon of 22 September, focus on the "Stratégie française pour le MCO aéronautique (aux niveaux national et régional)" ("French strategy for aeronautical MCO, at national and regional level"). The organiser announces "expected authorities" there, including the Minister of the Armed Forces and Veterans and the President of the Conseil régional de Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

Awards and accolades

The trade show presents the Prix du Challenge de l'Innovation AD2S (AD2S Innovation Challenge Award), given on 24 September during an official ceremony. The challenge is reserved for exhibitors and open to organisations contributing to the Base industrielle et technologique de défense européenne (BITDE, European Defence Technological and Industrial Base). Entries are split into three categories: PRIME (large companies and mid-caps), FOURNISSEURS (SMEs, small businesses and start-ups) and PUBLIC (public institutions and research centres). The jury is made up of civilian and military experts in aeronautical MRO.

The 2026 edition schedules seventeen pitches on the morning of 24 September, including Airbus Defence and Space (deployed additive manufacturing, mixed-reality maintenance, laser cleaning), CGI, Cognivance, CS Group, Edalis, ENSPIMA, Handddle, JPB Système, MBDA, Nefab, OBSAM, Senior Aerospace Ermeto, Shift 89, STAHLWILLE and Sunaero-Helitest.

A second scheme specific to AD2S: the technical-operational demonstrations, carried out mostly outdoors in the air base's operational zone, on military equipment. Each demonstration must have been tested beforehand, must not exceed twenty minutes, must be repeatable across all three days, and must be commented in both French and English.

Community & networks

The third day hosts the Forum des Métiers (Careers Forum), a day dedicated to discovering the trades, training and professional opportunities in defence aeronautical support. It brings together industrial players, institutions, employment agencies, engineering schools, universities and training centres, facing students, recent graduates and jobseekers.

An AD2S evening event is held on Wednesday 23 September from 7.30pm to 11pm, by registration and with limited places.

Outside the trade show itself, the organiser keeps the community engaged year-round through a steady editorial output (articles, news briefs, interviews and a series of podcasts) and interim events: a panel discussion was held on 13 January 2026 at the Hôtel de Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, whose contributions then fed the podcast series published from January to June 2026. The trade show is also present on LinkedIn.

On site: what you need to know

For access, parking and accommodation, see the venue page: Base aérienne 106 (Avenue de l'Argonne, 33700 Mérignac).

Specific to the trade show: access is within a military site. Every participant must present themselves at the entrance with a printed personal badge, electronic versions and badge photos not being accepted, and a valid photo ID, with the old-style pink paper driving licence not accepted. Badges can be downloaded from the personal account area a few days before opening. Allow extra time on arrival: the access control of an air base is not that of an exhibition centre.

2026 opening hours: opening at 10.00am on Tuesday 22 September, at 9.00am on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24, closing at 5.30pm on all three days. The core of the programme (conferences, business meetings, demonstrations at the static display) runs from 10.00am to 5.00pm.

How much it costs to exhibit

Preparing your visit

For the exhibitor

• Three exhibition formats are offered: indoor stands in the main exhibition space, outdoor stands for bulky equipment and systems, and turnkey kiosks for compact participations.
• The technical-operational demonstrations are reserved for registered exhibitors and subject to application. Applicants must be French or European entities contributing to the BITDE; joint applications are accepted subject to a lead organisation. For 2026, the application deadline was set at 29 May 2026, 12.00pm Paris time.
• The Challenge Innovation is open to exhibitors by application. Expected solutions must be usable in an operational or industrial context, achievable within five years, based on solid scientific or technical grounds, and supported by a simplified quantitative assessment.
• The exhibitor guide and stand booking form can be downloaded from the official website.
• Allow for the security lead times specific to a military site for the delivery and installation of equipment.

For the decision-making visitor

• Access is free for institutional and industrial procurement decision-makers in the ASD sector, subject to accreditation. Other profiles go through the visitor ticketing system.
• Activate the pre-scheduled business meeting service in advance: this is the trade show's central mechanism, with the DGA, joint technical services and the ecosystem's major players.
• Reserve 22 September if the goal is strategic content (keynotes, inauguration, European perspective), and 24 September if the goal is recruitment and skills.
• Print the badge before leaving and bring a valid photo ID.

Policy & CSR initiatives

No dedicated "Commitments" or "CSR" page is published at the event level, and AD2S does not claim ISO 20121 certification. As the venue is a military site and not a commercial exhibition centre, no site-level CSR policy is published either.

Two levels of commitment are nonetheless documented. On the organiser's side: abe publishes a "Nos actions RSE" ("Our CSR actions") page detailing concrete measures, including internal waste sorting and sorting at its business conventions, prioritising rail travel, digitising expense claims and invoices, working with local caterers and suppliers (audiovisual, furniture, security, cleaning), eco-design and digital signage in communications. The social strand covers school partnerships, the recruitment of work-study students and interns, promoting diversity, and support for associations (Fondation Apprentis d'Auteuil, YAAPA - Young African Aviation Professional Association, Rallye Toulouse-Saint-Louis).

On the content side, environmental performance is one of the five areas of interest open to the technical-operational demonstrations (energy optimisation, decarbonisation, waste reduction), and the 2024 conference series included a panel entitled "Le MCO aéro, acteur innovant du développement durable" ("Aeronautical MCO, an innovative driver of sustainable development"). These are programme themes, to be distinguished from an organisational commitment by the event itself.

How the trade show has evolved

Trajectory analysis

AD2S is not a new trade show: it follows on from ADS Show, created in 2012 in Mérignac on the same theme, at the same venue and with some of the same organisers. ADS Show peaked in 2018 before the 2020 edition was cancelled due to the pandemic. The event reappeared in 2024 under the name AD2S, in a very different strategic context: the return of the prospect of a major high-intensity engagement put fleet availability and the resilience of support chains back at the centre of priorities.

This repositioning is reflected in the 2026 programme, entirely structured around combat MCO, industrial preparedness and European outreach, with a keynote from the European Commission and the participation of representatives from several European countries. The observed rhythm is biennial, on even years.

Its distinctiveness lies in the venue. Where Eurosatory, Euronaval or the Salon International de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace display platforms and systems before a broad public, AD2S is held inside an active air base and deals with what comes after the purchase: maintaining, repairing, regenerating, training. The format is also more tightly focused than the generalist business conventions run by the same organiser, such as Aeromart Toulouse, also run by BCI Aerospace. Locally, it complements a Gironde ecosystem already structured around aeronautics and drones, where the UAV Show is also held.

The point of vigilance for an exhibitor remains operational: the military access constraint, which guarantees the quality of the audience, weighs in return on logistics and on footfall.

Unless otherwise stated, all factual data in this listing comes from the organiser's official website (ad2s-bordeaux.com).