Wildfires sweeping through pine forests west of Bordeaux have forced the closure of some of France's most strategically important defense and aerospace sites, disrupting operations at companies including Airbus, defense electronics group Thales and rocket-maker ArianeGroup.
Blazes near towns including Saint-Médard-en-Jalles and Mérignac have prompted aerospace supplier Safran, Dassault Aviation -- which makes the Rafale jet fighter -- and European missile manufacturer MBDA, to suspend some operations, underscoring the concentration of defense manufacturing in the Gironde region.
The companies stressed that the closures were precautionary and that contingency plans had been activated to protect personnel and sensitive facilities. Dassault said it had relocated sensitive equipment from sites threatened by the fires to another facility and a nearby air base.
The fires, which have burned thousands of acres of forest west of Bordeaux and come perilously close to several communities, have cast a spotlight on a centuries-old defense cluster that has long been embedded in the region's economy.
"The reason this cluster exists is quite simple: it's historical," said retired Gen. Jean-Marc Laurent, a defense and aerospace expert at Sciences Po Bordeaux.
The area around Saint-Médard-en-Jalles was home to royal gunpowder works dating to the 17th century reign of Louis XIV, more than a century before the surrounding Landes forest was planted. After World War II, the French state built on that legacy, turning the area into a key hub for its ballistic missile, nuclear weapon and space programs. Laurent said France had deliberately concentrated much of its defense industry away from the border of Germany, a historic foe.
Executives said the immediate impact of the fires had been limited by the August shutdown, but disruption could spread through the aerospace supply chain if the fires persisted or spread further.
Airbus Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said it was critical that firefighters keep the blazes from reaching major industrial sites. "Not only ours, but ones of others," he told analysts on Wednesday.
The fires, which have upended daily life across the region, remained stable Wednesday night thanks to favorable weather, but Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that the battle remained "complicated" as firefighters worked to secure a 150-mile fire perimeter and prevent any further spread.
"A slight improvement does not mean we are lowering our guard," he said, adding that more than 3,300 firefighters, supported by 1,500 military personnel, 1,250 police officers and gendarmes, and 24 aircraft, remained deployed in the area.
The wildfires have pushed Thales to close three sites, including its Mérignac campus, where it makes electronic systems for Rafale jet fighters and military helicopters. Aerospace supplier Safran shut four nearby facilities employing about 500 people.
Airbus has similarly shut two sites in Salaunes and Mérignac, where it makes critical components ranging from cockpit seat structures to fuselage sections, nose cones and wing flaps for its lineup of commercial aircraft. The factories also produce components for Dassault and Bombardier business jets and ATR turboprops.
European space specialist ArianeGroup evacuated and secured sites in Le Haillan and Saint-Médard-en-Jalles where it makes rocket motors for its launchers and France's M51 submarine-launched nuclear missile. European missile manufacturer MBDA said it closed its nearby Roxel propulsion plant.
As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires, the vulnerability of strategic industrial sites has become a growing concern. Many of France's most sensitive defense facilities were deliberately built in sparsely populated, forested areas, away from major population centers. Earlier this month, a separate wildfire threatened KNDS's ammunition plant at La Chapelle-Saint-Ursin in central France, forcing nearby residents to shelter indoors while firefighters prevented the blaze from reaching the site.
The growing risk has prompted both the government and industry to adapt. Following the devastating 2022 wildfire season, France strengthened rules requiring vegetation to be cleared around buildings and industrial installations in fire-prone areas, expanding obligations for sites close to forests.
After wildfires in South Korea came close to the Hanul nuclear power station in 2022, Thibault Laconde, founder of Callendar, a climate risk consulting firm, examined how exposed France's strategic industrial sites were to the same threat.
His study found that about a quarter of France's more than 300 hazardous industrial sites located next to forests already faced significant wildfire risk. Under a midrange scenario, that could rise to about 75% by 2050, with those sites at risk from dangerous fire conditions for at least 10 days each year.
"These sites are so strategic that they will be defended with every available means," Laconde said. "The question is what can no longer be defended elsewhere."
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