​Dual-Use Technologies Reshaping The Next Decade In Aviation

Innovation​Dual-Use Technologies Reshaping The Next Decade In AviationByGreg Ombach, Forbes Councils Member. for Forbes Technology CouncilCOUNCIL POSTExpertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based)Jun 01, 2026, 10:45am EDTDr. Greg Ombach, CEO-Level Deep-Tech Operator & Board Member, Senior Vice President at Airbus. gettyFor years, dual-use sat at the edge of aerospace strategy, somewhere between defense policy, export controls and advanced research. That position is shifting. In aviation, dual-use is moving toward the center and becoming one of the main ways important technologies are developed, scaled and governed. The reason is not only geopolitics, but industrial logic. The boundary between civil and defense technology is becoming more permeable, and companies that know how to work across both can move faster than those still operating in older categories.​ The next wave of advantage in aviation will not come from the aircraft alone. It will come from the systems around it. For a long time, competition was framed mainly around platforms such as faster aircraft, lower fuel burn, better economics and stronger mission capability. That all still matters, but it no longer captures the full picture. Value is shifting toward the systems that make aviation more resilient, adaptive and scalable. Navigation, connectivity, autonomy, airspace management and advanced performance technologies now shape outcomes across the civil and defense domains alike. Dual-use is no longer a side effect. It is becoming part of the operating model.​ Why Two Markets Can Accelerate One TechnologyThat shift is occurring as sovereignty, operational readiness and industrial competitiveness are increasingly intertwined. Aviation is a strategic sector again—not in the narrow Cold War sense, but in the sense that strength in one domain increasingly reinforces the other. Many of the technologies now reshaping aviation do not originate inside defense programs. They emerge in civil or commercial environments and then cross into both. AI is the clearest example, adopted quickly across aerospace through multiple channels. For companies, the advantage is structural. Two markets are available, and one of them may move faster at any given moment. Civil adoption can generate early data, operational learning and scale. Defense demand can accelerate sharply when continuity becomes mission critical. The strongest dual-use companies will use the faster market to mature the technology, then move into the second phase with better proof and economics.​ The New Stack Behind Aviation AdvantageAviation’s dependence on satellite-based positioning illustrates how this plays out in practice. GPS has made aviation more efficient, but it has also created exposure. When signals are jammed or spoofed, aircraft lose the situational awareness that modern operations assume as given. A navigation system that maintains accuracy independent of satellite infrastructure addresses a threat that is simultaneously a defense priority and a civil safety requirement. The technology is the same. The operational case is equally strong in both domains.​ Connectivity follows a parallel path. As aviation becomes more connected, the question is no longer whether communication works but whether it holds under pressure, across environments where terrestrial infrastructure is absent or unreliable, and where non-terrestrial networks are becoming part of the operating backbone. Aerodynamic performance advances work similarly. Improvements in lift, efficiency and flight envelope are less visible than a new aircraft concept. Still, technologies that shift agility, climb performance and mission versatility can determine competitiveness for a decade.​ Autonomy is further along the same trajectory, but it also surfaces the harder side of the transition. More autonomous capability will enter aviation. The difficult question is how it integrates. In aviation, autonomy is primarily about better decision support, reduced workload and greater operational confidence in automated systems. AI ties this together, linking navigation, sensing, situational awareness and flight management more effectively. Converting data into faster, more reliable operational judgment is achievable. Making it certifiable and deployable at scale is harder.​ The Bottleneck Moves From Invention To DeploymentThat gap between technical feasibility and operational deployment is where most senior leaders still underestimate the work. Governance, certification, procurement and integration are not secondary problems to solve after the technology is built. They are the work. The same is true for IP and data. In dual-use aviation, long-term advantage will depend not only on technical performance, but on who controls the architecture, the learning, the operational data and the rights around them. A system does not create value in aviation because it performs well in a controlled environment. It creates value when it is certified, operationally trusted and used reliably in the field, a fundamentally different problem from building a demonstrator, and one that requires investment long before the technology is ready to fly.​ Who Wins The Next DecadeThe future of aviation will be shaped less by who builds the next aircraft and more by who scales the enabling systems around it. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify? Editorial StandardsReprints & PermissionsLOADING VIDEO PLAYER...FORBES’ FEATURED Video