Hensoldt AG

XETRA:HAG

Earnings Call Transcript 2022-Q1

[Operator]

Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the conference call of Hensoldt AG. Our customers request this conference will be recorded. [Operator Instructions]

May I now hand you over to Veronika Endres, Head of Investors Relations. Please go ahead.

[Veronika Zimmermann, executive]

Yes, thank you. And good afternoon, everybody. I warmly welcome you to Hensoldt's Q1 2022 results call. Thank you for joining us today. My name is Veronika Endres and I'm Head of Investor Relations at Hensoldt. Today, our CEO, Thomas Muller will give you an update on our achievements of the first quarter of the year, followed by more details on the latest development with regard to the German defense budget.

Our CFO, Axel Salzmann will, then guide you through our Q1 results before we will open the Q&A session. And with that, I will hand over to you, Thomas.

[Thomas Muller, executive]

Thank you very much, Veronika. Dear ladies and gentleman, very warm welcome from my side too and good afternoon. It's great to see you joining today's earnings call in which we would like to present our results for the first quarter of 2022 to you.

Before Axel, our CFO is going to guide you through our, once more, strong financial performance, I would like to give you a brief overview on our business development in Q1 '22 and then dive a little bit deeper into the effects and consequences of the increase in German defense spending. Following our presentation, we are happy to answer your questions. Our successful start into the financial year shows once again, that we are setting the right strategic priorities.

We have started the new financial year with another strong growth in orders, driving our order backlog to a record level of EUR 5.5 billion. With our leading technologies and sensor solutions, we were again able to assert ourselves as a leading partner for important defense projects and accordingly booked numerous orders in the first quarter of this year. For example, the multipurpose frigates F126, formally known as MKS 180 of the German Navy will be equipped with our Hensoldt TRS for the radars. The order for the delivery of the high performance radars has a volume of EUR 168 million and the first F126 frigates are expected to be delivered in 2028 and the following years. By the way, dear ladies and gentlemen, it's only the first part. We expect to -- further frigates to follow. Furthermore, a long term service contract for the Eurofighter with the volume of nearly EUR 300 million, very precisely EUR 270 million, has been booked in the first quarter, huge success for our service business with good margin inside.

Beyond the defense business, our activities in the civilian space are also evolving nicely. We are developing the next generation of our high precision measurement technology FFM, which will secure our position in this profitable and long term recurring business with our partner and customer, ASML. With French presidential elections won by Emanuel Macron, I also expect increased impetus on the words European, clearly said Franco-German programs.

Ladies and gentlemen, with our high tech portfolio, we are the right technology partner for the security challenges of the future. This is all the more crucial as Europe is now confronted with a completely new security situation, as you all know. The war against Ukraine is not only human rights tragedy or human tragedy, but has led also to a turning point in European and German security policy within only a few days. Chancellor Scholz announced special budget of 100, I repeat EUR 100 billion to better equip the German armed forces and also reconfirm the government's commitment to spend 2% of the GDP on the defense sustainability.

In addition, the recurring defense budget was raised from EUR 47 billion in 2021 to EUR 50 billion annually for the period '22 to '23. The special additional budget of EUR 100 billion will contribute to achieve the 2% target and even more as the Chancellor just recently said and is an important step forward to quickly and comprehensively equip the German armed forces to face the new security policy reality and as we all know, to bring the German armed forces back on an operational level again. This will be very quick and very fast. Hensoldt, we, are ready to support this joint effort of Germany. As the leading technology company and provider of sovereign technology, we are aware of our special responsibility and role.

Nonetheless, we, and I repeat, nonetheless, we remain cautious in our approach as you, dear ladies and gentlemen know us from the past. We walk the talk. We talk about things when they're materializing, not prior to it. And let us please keep in mind that the EUR 100 billion special budget has to be cleared by political and legislative hurdles in Germany before being signed into law. We expect this will happen in the next couple of weeks prior to summer break in Germany. It will also take them some time until there's sufficient clarity, how the increased funding will impact our business figures. Ladies and gentlemen, please rest assured that we will inform you in due course, once the good news have sufficiently materialized later this year.

I repeat the EUR 100 billion special budget, which will go through the German parliament in a couple of weeks, will be on top of EUR 50 billion and if necessary, the spending will even be above 2% as our Chancellor said, it will be above 2%. German government has defined 3 fields of action with fields 1 and 2 being oriented towards providing direct and short-term support to Ukraine, as well as increasing combat readiness of the German armed forces.

We expect orders amounting to a low double digit figure, mainly from spare parts, acceleration of maintenance and the delivery of products we have on stock. I have to say clearly our expectation, as we always say is cautious and a low double digit figure may be a higher figure in the second half of this year. First times lead to these assumptions.

The third field of action has a much higher impact on our business and we see a very broad spectrum of opportunities here. Many programs that could not be pursued or were delayed due to the budget constraints in the past have now been accelerated to secure medium and long term operational readiness of the German customers. This results in a whole range of order potential for Hensoldt. As a central sensor solutions provider and supplier of national key technologies, we are able to contribute to a large number of future major projects for the German armed forces. And again, please keep in mind, we, as Hensoldt are the one and only sensor solutions housed in Germany, which means that in any future big program, Hensoldt will have its stake.

Let me just give you some examples. We can supply the German army with night vision goggles at short notice and equip a second batch of the Puma infantry fighting vehicle with our sensor technology. And ladies and gentlemen, talking about night vision goggles, I'm not talking about a 2-digit number, I'm talking about a 3-digit number because there are thousands of them definitely and desperately needed. The same applies to the upgrade of the Tank howitzer 2000 and over here we are participating as a sensor provider in what will be delivered by the OEMs.

For the Air Force, we can supply radars, both active and passive for high performance air defense thus creating a kind of iron dome based on sole German technology. And to be crystal clear on this, we already successfully have proven this technology with some direct hits to be supplied currently to an export customer. And this German technology in the future will serve as a kind of cost [ associated ] immediately deployable in Germany and the Ukraine. World-class, best-in-class medium range air defense.

They're also well positioned to provide an escort jamming pod in electronic warfare for the Eurofighter, as well as avionics and self-protection for further helicopter programs.

In the Navy, our radars will be placed on additional, as I already said, F126 multipurpose combat ships, a third batch of K130 corvettes. And in addition on future additional 212 class submarines. Another state-of-the-art, best-in-class, anti-battery radar system called COBRA will be delivered by Hensoldt and its partner Thales as we expected currently to all over Eastern Europe in the next year. We, at Hensoldt, are also very well positioned in the more long-term purpose.

These include major European programs such as FCAS, future combat air system and the major ground combat system (sic) [main ground combat system], which will be revised after the French election, as well as our contribution to electronic warfare and self-protection capabilities of the Eurofighter. The sensor functions as part of the digitalization of the army and the new anti-ballistic F27 Air Defence frigates. We expect the first orders from these procurement programs to be received in the second half of this year and the variety of [ imports ] overall for sustainable growth at Hensoldt in the coming years. And I really want to point out that as you remember, Hensoldt is best-in-class to take this challenge ahead of us in sensor solutions.

And I only can say with this very exciting prospect, I would like to hand over to Axel Salzmann, our CFO will go in more details. Thank you. Axel, please.

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

Thank you, Thomas. Warm welcome to this results call of Hensoldt from my side as well. I'm pleased to provide you with details on our financials for the first quarter of 2022. We, again, transferred our strong momentum of the last year and realized significant growths in our top line. In the first 3 months of 2022, we were able to secure a number of big orders. In the sensor segment, for example, we received the orders to equip the Frigate F126 with our TRS-4D radars was EUR 168 million and received 3 long term service contract for the Eurofighter worth EUR 270 million. In total, orders sum up to EUR 680 million the first 3 months of this year, compared to the already strong fourth quarter 2020, order intake thereby increased by 25%. This resides in the book-to-bill ratio of 2.4x.

As you can see, our pipelines further transformed into all intake. And this also reflects our strong revenue availability. Our sales increased by 37% to EUR 286 million. This was mainly driven by sustainable growth in the sensor segment most notably of course to the key programs which developed as planned. All this results again in the firm order backlog at record level. At the end of the first quarter, our order backlog was at EUR 5.5 billion and thereby more than EUR 1.7 billion higher compared to the first quarter of 2021, a plus of 46%. This covers around 3.2x our guided revenues for 2022. And please keep in mind, our business is weighted towards the last quarter of the financial year.

Overall, our bottom line develops as planned. As mentioned before, our business is very much weighted to the second half of the year, not only with regard to sales, but also in terms of profitability and cash flow. Adjusted EBITDA increased by 11% to EUR 17 million and adjusted EBIT came in at EUR 1 million. Also, profitability in the first 3 months of 2022 is below the Q1 2022 results which is clearly related to the lower project margins for past revenues and project in early stage of life cycle. In addition, we continue to invest in research and development and increase bid budgets to ensure future growth.

Adjusted pretax unlevered free cash flow is at 140 million negative, which was as planned for. The first quarter of our financial year is characterized by an increase in working capital, especially in inventories and contract balances. This year, that effect is additionally reinforced by our key projects in the early stage. But let me point out once again, past new business on major project in the early stage developed as expected.

Coming to a conclusion, let me mention the following key financial takeaways. In terms of visibility, we see that pipeline further materialized residing in the record order backlog of EUR 5.5 billion. Profitability before pass-through revenue stays on a sustainable level. Cash flow in line with our expectation to ensure future growths. Our outlook is promising since we confirm short and medium guidance for all KPIs, increasing order backlog around 50% growth in revenue to around EUR 1.7 billion, around 12% growth in that absolute adjusted EBITDA, further deleveraging and we stick to our dividend policy of up to 20% of adjusted net income.

And now we are happy to take your questions.

[Operator]

[Operator Instructions] The first question is coming from Ben Heelan at the Bank of America.

[Benjamin Heelan, analyst]

So, I had a few and so firstly, on margins you talked about early stage projects and pass-throughs, particularly in Optronics. Could you give us a little bit more color about what those projects exactly were and how long that is going to be a drag for you? That'd be the first one.

Second one would be on supply chain and inflation. It doesn't appear as though you are commenting on any particular pressure in those areas, but obviously the environment is challenging. So, are you seeing any impact there? Do you see that as a risk?

And then finally, on this low double digit euro million from short cycle orders, how should we think about that into 2023? Is there potential for those orders to be stronger than low double digit as we move into 2023?

[Thomas Muller, executive]

I would like to take your last question first and then passing to Axel. This 2-digit orders we see in front of us will be in the next 1 and 1.5 years. A big part of it will come in this year, but we expect an even stronger and bigger order intake from this next year. And in total, we can't give you any precise numbers on this, but taking into account what we have offered, taking into account of the potential we see, it will be only for acquiring significant number, which will materialize by the way in the second half of this year when we know further and more detail what we are talking about precisely.

Axel please.

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

Hi, Ben, it's Axel speaking. Concerning your questions in relation to the margin development in Optronics, it's very simple. It's security solutions. These are projects in early stage. So, for example, laser pointer, some night goggles and this kind of stuff, mainly driven out of South Africa, but also we are preparing security solutions offers for the German process where we have to invest a little bit. So, there's nothing really to worry about.

Concerning the supply chain risk, we are monitoring obviously the supply chain very closely. So, far we do not see any kind of risk for 2022, but as I have mentioned already, we are monitoring that very closely and we will react if there's something to come out. Obviously, we are preparing ourselves for each and any reason why we could think about. So, that is something, which is so far really on our spot, but not something to worry about.

[Operator]

The next questions come from Christian Cohrs at Warburg Research.

[Christian Cohrs, analyst]

Maybe first, I fully understand that you want to stay on the cautious side with regarding to the business potential related to the EUR 100 billion extra fund. Well, in the press, there are various opportunities, possibilities mentioned. For instance, to replace the Tornado fleet by additional Eurofighters. In your presentation, you also mentioned the second Puma lot, for instance. Can you maybe provide us with an idea as to what is the Hensoldt content per unit for the Eurofighter for the Puma lot that we can actually make our own thoughts? What is there in terms of possibilities?

Second question relates also to latest news. There's speculation about an excess profit tax here in Germany for the winners related to the war in the Ukraine. Does this also affect the defense industry? And do you have any thoughts on that? And if this is risk factor, so any thoughts would be welcome.

And lastly, 2 housekeeping items to the CFO. First, in the balance sheet, that 2 items, first, deferred tax liabilities have gone up. And secondly, the provisions have come down quite materially since the beginning of the year. I wanted to know, especially with regards to the provisions, is this solely related to the higher interest or anything, especially, we have to be aware of?

[Thomas Muller, executive]

Christian, thank you very much for your question. I would like to start with Eurofighter the replacement of the Tornados. There is a huge opportunity for us and we see if there are only 15-year founders to escort the F-35 or if there is even a lot of another 40 to 50. You can imagine what is behind there. It's not all EW with support from Hensoldt, but it's also an overall rejuvenation of the Eurofighter, which leads into flying the Eurofighter up to 2050, which is currently planned by the German armed forces. So, this will open big opportunity and you have seen our figures we had in the past. And you can, I think, calculate for yourself, at least not only the [ MKR ] radars, but also other staff which are there though this would be a very huge order income, which was to materialize our- you remember there's a EUR 10 billion order pipeline we see.

Supported strongly by the army, second lot of Puma is now materializing more and more. Again, it's not done, it's not ordered, it will be orders, which come in, in the next year, perhaps second half of this year for the Puma. Eurofighter will be most probably next year, but for the Puma, maybe even this year, but also beginning of the next year. We have already equipped the first lots with our Optronic systems and happy to do so again, self-protections. We have, again, a strong participation in the Puma lot 2. If you ask me now, what is precise number, what is the precise volume, I can't tell you, not because I don't know it, but I'm not allowed to do it. And for the tax, I would already pass to Axel. And for sure, for your third part of question, the deferred tax and provisions, but for the German tax situation, I would also like to pass to Axel. Axel, please.

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

Thank you, Thomas. You know I'm happy to take your questions but coming up with the additional tax situation, which right now is a rumor or a discussion in the press. I think Christian will understand that I cannot comment on that. I think that is, right now, something which is in the glass cube. My personal belief is that it is nice discussion, but it will not happen, but that's my personal belief. So, I cannot -- as an official CFO, I cannot command on this situation. I do not believe for the company in that.

Coming back to the housekeeping, which you have phrased it, I think it's very simple. The noncurrent provisions are related to the pensions. As you know, the interest rate for pensions has gone up. That means that you have to reduce your provisions accordingly. That is based on the testing, which we are doing once in a quarter. Second -- what was it?

[Christian Cohrs, analyst]

Deferred tax.

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

I am sorry, Christian. Deferred tax, it's simply related to the seasonality of our business and therefore nothing specific. So, these are not the major points in this perspective. Did I answer your question, Christian?

[Christian Cohrs, analyst]

Yes, you did. And sorry that I've bothered you with the excess profit tax. I share your view, but I thought I'd give it a try.

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

The question is not bothering me. It's simply that I cannot answer to that and I have only my personal opinion, but that should be not part of this discussion.

[Operator]

The next questions are coming from Christophe Menard at Deutsche Bank.

[Christophe Menard, analyst]

I have 3 questions. The first one on the free cash flow profile and the seasonality throughout the year. Could you update us on what is the profile we should have in Q2, Q3, Q4? And should we expect such a strong imbalance, I would say, in Q1 every year, I mean, especially as you're going to grow quite steeply? So, that was the first question.

The second question is, thanks for the update on the programs and contract opportunities. I was wondering whether you could also update us on other programs that you mentioned in the past, like TLVS, STH and the Eurofighter ECR, the 15 that have been discussed. It does not show up or I may have misread in the contract opportunities, or is it the [ Lewis ] contract? If you could expand a little bit more on that opportunity.

And finally, just more housekeeping element. You mentioned at the beginning of the presentation, the FFM contract in metrology. Is it a new area of business or I may have missed it in the past? Is it coming with better margin than your current, I think Optronics business? If you could expand a bit more on this in terms of what size it could have in the future.

[Thomas Muller, executive]

Okay. Thanks for the questions I take 2 and 3 and give Axel the first one. So, we are shortly on programs like TLVS, the heavy transport helicopter and the Eurofighter ECR. We couldn't talk too much about the Eurofighter ECR the 15 planes, because there has been a huge discussion in the past, although in the former government, it is U.S. based [ howler ] system, which is the F-18? It is Eurofighter? It is a different scheme? And now the Germans decided -- decided is perhaps the wrong wording, but there's an intention because it's all not finally decided as long as the EUR 100 billion budget is not decided, but going for the F-35 and equipping the Eurofighter with an EW capability, which we are preparing since years, this would open new business opportunities. It's not [ Lewis ] because [ Lewis ] is also including a stand-off jammer. This is an escort jammer. The difference is escort jammer is flying with the F-35 on the Eurofighter. The stand-off jammer is in a -is far away from a much bigger plane and holding down enemy radars.

So, there's a good business opportunity. We can't tell you too much yet about how it looks like at the end of the day. The Germans want to take into account, should Hensoldt to it on its own or should we have very transparently. Should we partner with another international company? We will see and we have to decide. Speed and performances of the effort and we will decide what we are going to do. And once it's materialized, we are more than happy to talk to you about the additional business volume. Heavy transport helicopter, as you all know, it will be an American product either Sikorsky or Boeing.

I will not give you any idea who is in front, because it's glasswall viewing, but if you read the newspapers, I can say that I admit and expect that the newspapers are quite well informed currently. And the Hensoldt is currently talking to the MOD because our self-protection systems, we expect, could be a very good idea to get on board because they are benchmark. As you know, we are the world market leader in this area. So, we can get onboard of an American helicopter with future opportunities, by the way.

Now, TLVS. TlVS, part of TLVS has been, as I reported to remember in the beginning of our call about this German based air defense medium range system. Part of TLVS always has been the system. And we are now without TLVS. We will now deliver exactly these systems, not only to the export customer, but we are starting discussions also with a German customer and by the way, other customers, which is very promising. And I have to say again, very good business opportunity.

So, these are the 4 programs we mentioned, and yes, there are other programs. You remember what I said about the COBRA program. You have seen it most probably in the newspapers too, in the media. This is a very promising benchmark artillery detection system. We have provided this in the Cold War, renewed it and sold it all over the world together with our partner Thales and this has now been on the list of the Ukraine.

And now everyone is rediscovering the performance of such a system. And again, here we have, I think, quite good business opportunities as it has been cited in the media today. Now, on the FFM, no, you didn't miss, but we didn't talk too much about it. We are an exclusive partner also for the next generation for ASML. And it is based on our outstanding technology in Optronics. And ASML is overly happy to have us as a partner for this measuring system, which is the basis for next generation chips. And we are very happy to supply it to ASML. It is a long lasting story, but it grew very nicely. Now, today it has a size, which is interesting for Optronics and it is a good margin, but I can't tell you if it's a better or good margin. Now, I say it's a good margin. I can't tell you if it's a better margin as of yet, but we are happy about it because the partnership with ASML is outstanding. Then I will pass to Axel for the free cash flow.

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

Concerning the free cash flow, I think it follows the normal seasonality of our business. As we know, we have to follow the milestone development and the invoicing capabilities and then we receive the related cash flow. At least I have in my mind and that is also the proven part of our sales history that at least 70% is coming from the second half of the calendar year. And most notably, most of that comes in the fourth quarter.

[Christophe Menard, analyst]

Okay. And so should we expect same type of seasonality in Q1 next year as growth continues, because you will have the same kind of startup cost? Is it something that we should take as a benchmark, the level we have in Q1 this year?

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

As you know, I have worked for 4 years or 5 years for this company. The seasonality remains as it is. That's mainly back-end driven for the calendar year. So, I do not believe that we'll have and we'll see really a shift in seasonality.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from Sash Tusa at Agency Partners, London.

[Sash Tusa, analyst]

I've just got a question about your backlog profile. Several of your peers who are also fortunate enough to have very substantial backlogs, given indication of how much of the backlog is scheduled for delivery in the current year, in the next financial year and thereafter, just to give investors in particular an idea of how the backlog might contribute to revenues over those periods. Could you just give us an idea about how much of the EUR 5.5 billion you would expect to deliver this year and how much next year?

[Axel Albert Salzmann, executive]

Sure, so, the backlog, as I've said during my full year presentation, the good fact that for year 2022, we have 95% already secured out-of-the-order backlog. And that will obviously for the other years a little bit less or will be less for sure. But so far we have only put full year in our annual closing. This is not your backlog disclosed. For me, it's much more important what is the actual situation. Right now, 95% is already in. We are delivering that. We are producing that and for the next year, the year 2023, I have even a very good in relation to prior years, very good visibility for coverage out of order backlog.

[Operator]

The next questions come from Aymeric Poulain at Kepler Cheuvreux.

[Aymeric Poulain, analyst]

A few questions. Follow-up on the free cash flow question. If you have indeed a surge in all the orders and turnover in the coming year, coming from the German MOD, do you see the group capable of meeting this demand with the existing capacity, or do you expect significant upfront investment to be made in order to meet this surge in demand?

And obviously, I think before the war in Ukraine and this budget announcement, you were talking about diversification, especially, geographical diversification, M&A outside Europe. Is that still on the agenda or do you need to focus your resource on the current need of the German MOD and if indeed, you are still looking at overseas opportunity? Do you have the managerial depth to execute on all these fronts?

[Thomas Muller, executive]

Okay. Aymeric, thank you for the question. It's absolutely valuable and valid because this is for sure, one of the big questions which is in front of us and it's not only related to the free cash flow, but generally we get lot of questions, are you capable to deliver in very short time what is requested? Now, as you all know us, we are a little bit more cautious than perhaps some others. And we want to walk the talk. On capacity, we clearly can say, yes. We have the capacity, the locations, the machinery in place to ramp up, I would not say very quickly, but to ramp up quickly. Same is for our staff, highly skilled workforce.

We have to get on the one or the other hand, some staff on board, but we can ramp up quickly and now very important, there is no big free cash flow trend, no free cash flow necessary to ramp up our capabilities. We have one bottleneck and we talked about it previously, which is supply chain. For the time being, we don't see any big problems in supply chain. We are mastering it, but if we have a significant ramp-up and a significant, faster delivery than we even imagine today, then we have to work on our supply chain.

And here, I can't say that everything is totally under control because we have to see, you know, it's a day-to-day surprise we are currently facing. It's a luxury problem for our company to say, well, we have to master the growth quickly, but capacity and human resources are okay. Supply chain, we have to check. And we have a couple of measures launched in order to also master supply chain, even if we have a significant, strong and fast ramp-up.

I give you an example. We talked about the COBRA system. We just today had already meeting with our partner, Thales in order to cut the delivery time by 2/3. I repeat 2/3.

On the M&A, you are absolutely right. We have to consider where our priorities lay in the moment and the Ukrainian war has changed a lot of things. And to look for an M&A outside of Europe, maybe we have to think about it. We are currently revising our strategy for the next years, but what we can say, we cannot only look for the next couple of months or near-term view, but we have other to look on a long lasting basis. And this means that we have to enhance, even if our priorities, you're absolutely right, are currently on Germany and Europe, we have to enhance our overall view and global footprint and we will not wait on the globalization of our company, especially as we have very positive examples and only to say, South Africa is very positively developing and there's a lot of capacity and highly skilled workforce down there. Hope it helps.

[Operator]

The next question is coming from Dave Perry at JPMorgan.

[David Perry, analyst]

Yes. I've got 2 questions please. I just want to understand, especially as a British person who doesn't read German and can't follow the news there, just why we've got the EUR 100 billion special budgets, as opposed to just going to 2% of GDP. Is this because Germany's plan to go to 2% for 4, 5 years and then go back just to the EUR 50 billion so this is a 4, 5-year uplift as opposed to permanence? So, just if you could explain your thoughts on that. And then just, I thought it would be helpful just to ask you about the Eurofighter, radar and Pegasus, your two mega projects, just an update on execution of their role on track.

[Thomas Muller, executive]

Yes. First, Dave, thank you. On the EUR 100 billion, well, I think everyone admits that the German armed forces are in, how to say it politely, in a difficult operational status to get a couple of hundreds of troops being very well equipped in Lithuania. We had to get, for example all the working equipment all over Germany. And you can imagine that this is not the status the German army should have. So, the EUR 100 billion that chancellor announced is, as we said, on top of the EUR 50 billion to go up to 2% GDP means to go up to EUR 70 billion, EUR 75 billion. And here you can easily calculate on top of the EUR 50 billion, how long it reaches. And you're absolutely right what happens afterwards. So, -- but the chancellor clearly said he will not stop at 2% because in the near term, we most probably have to spend more than EUR 2 billion. I'm only citing what he said during the last days. And as I learned, the chancellor also walks the talk. He means what he said and he has a totally different view on defense and the necessity to defend our freedom and liberal democracies as the predecessor.

So, we not believe, but we are sure currently that this 2% goal and even more will last over the next decade. And if you take the big programs, which are in front of us, the future combat air system, even more consolidated view of military systems in Europe, including, by the way, the Ukraine.

We need definitely to spend more money. And it has been a game changer in the world. It has been a paradigm change with assault of Russians over to Ukraine and yes to defend Europe and the native countries. So, this is a clear, significant change in German politics. So, we are not only expecting, we are sure that it will go ahead.

Now, on the Eurofighter radar, one of the big programs, the MK1, it's running normally, which means that yes, we have in one of the other area, as in the big programs, we have to talk to suppliers. We have to talk to partners. If things are going the right direction, but over and all, we're on a good track. We maintain our milestones. And I think this is very good news because the MK1 will be ready as it has planned. And in some areas we are even faster. In some areas, we are in corporation in Euroradar Consortium. We have to work on this, but overall, we deliver what we said. All milestones met, by the way, up to now, all the forecast. Very important. I hope it helped.

[David Perry, analyst]

Yes. And there is Pegasus as well, I just thought, be useful to check.

[Thomas Muller, executive]

Absolutely.

[Operator]

There are no further questions at the moment for closing remarks. Back to Veronika Endres.

[Veronika Zimmermann, executive]

Yes. Thank you all for listening and also for your questions. And as always, if you should have any further questions, the IR team is around all day to follow up. And with that, have a great day. Thank you all and goodbye.

[Thomas Muller, executive]

Thanks to all of you really for listening today. We are in incredible times. We never expected that this situation will come back again to Europe, but let's face it and let's take the challenge on the front. Thank you very much.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. This call has been concluded. You may disconnect.