Overview
Société Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques was founded in 1920 to build aircraft for the early Belgian aviation industry, with its original plant at Haren airport near Brussels. After producing several of its own designs before World War II, the company became a major industrial partner on Belgian military aircraft programs including the F-84, F-104G, Mirage 5, F-16, and Agusta A109 helicopter. A second plant opened at Charleroi airport in 1955.
From the 1970s onward SABCA diversified into space, designing and manufacturing structural elements and thrust vector actuators for the European Spacelab, Ariane, and Vega launchers. The company today operates across three divisions covering aerostructures, space, and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services for civil and military aircraft.
In 2020 Dassault Belgique Aviation sold its 96.85% stake in SABCA to a Belgian consortium combining Sabena Aerospace and the federal holding company SFPI-FPIM. The shares were placed in a holding called Blueberry, later renamed Orizio, which positions SABCA inside a broader Belgian aerospace group with more than 1,200 employees across Belgium and abroad.
Key People
Funding history
- 2020: Acquisition of 96.85% of SABCA by Sabena Aerospace and SFPI-FPIM from Dassault Belgique Aviation for approximately EUR 74.6M
Media & appearances
- VirtualYouTubeVirtual #23: Hoe technologie en innovatie het slagveld verandert en onderwaterdrones in OostendeMentioned as part of Belgium's classic aerospace defense arsenal.
- VirtualYouTubeVirtual #23: Hoe technologie het slagveld verandert: razendsnelle innovatie in Oekraïne en onderw...Cited as one of the classic Belgian aerospace/defense companies.
In the news
- In one word, how would you describe the SAFIR-Ready Conference in #Liège? The SAFIR-Ready Conference marked a major milestone for the project, bringing together aviation authorities, European organisations, defence, and industry to reflect on the progress achieved and what must come next. We asked five leading experts to describe the event in one word and share the key message they took away from the conference: 🔹 Munish Khurana, Senior Manager ATM/UTM Business Development at EUROCONTROL 🔹 Daan D., Head of Department IAM at
- New routes, shorter journeys, and faster connections! See how our project coordinator, Helicus, is reshaping logistics in the Port of Antwerp-Bruges in the article below! https://lnkd.in/d2hkwFW8 🇪🇺 The SAFIR-Ready project belongs to the SESAR Joint Undertaking and is co-funded by the European Commission through #HorizonEurope. Fulfilling the EU Strategic vision, SAFIR Ready innovates through an #Open_Modular_Architecture, designed for flexibility and scalability. The project is developing a Drone Cargo Port, enabling
- 9 launches, 9 successes for Ariane 6! 🚀 We are proud to see another successful Ariane 6 mission, which also marked the launcher's first mission to GTO orbit with an Ariane 62. Behind every launch are thousands of passionate professionals across Europe. At SABCA, our teams contribute through the P120 Electromechanical Actuator, a key element of the launcher's Thrust Vector Control system that helps guide Ariane rockets on their journey to space. From engineering and qualification to production, testing, assembly and delivery, this
- New website. New opportunities. Same passion for aerospace. ✈️🚀 SABCA has just launched a brand-new website, and with it, a brand-new careers page! Thinking about a career where you can work on aircraft, space launchers, advanced air mobility or next-generation aerospace technologies? We’re currently looking for talents across many different fields, including: ✈️ Mechatronics Assemblers 🔧 Hydraulic Test Technicians 🏭 Manufacturing Engineers ⚡ Electricians 📊 Procurement Officers …and many more! Whether you’re starting your
- How much drone traffic can a city's airspace actually take? 🏙️🚁 You can't find out with real fleets! In SAFIR-Ready, project partner AgentFly Technologies explores it with fast-time simulation. We can recreate a city's airspace, fill it with realistic medical 🚑, delivery 📦, and patrol 🛡️ drone traffic, and increase it to see where the airspace starts to reach its limits. It's a way to study capacity limits, safety-zone effects, and start-delay trade-offs before a single real flight, helping de-risk the demonstrations and
- Next week, the SABCA team will be at the Farnborough International Airshow 2026, and we look forward to meeting customers, partners, and industry peers from around the world. Visit us to discover the expertise of the SABCA Group. From advanced actuation systems and aerostructures to cutting-edge composite manufacturing, our teams are proud to support some of the world’s leading aerospace and defense programs with innovative, high-performance solutions. 📍Meet us at Booth #1157. See you in Farnborough! #FarnboroughAirshow #FIA2026
Alumni 3 went on to found or lead
Pascal SulsTest Engineer→Co-Founder - Mechatronics Specialist - Project Manager at MachineSight
Peter ReynaertDirector of Quality→Director and Co-founder at AeroVantis
Thibauld JongenBoard Member→Co-Founder at Common Sense Robotics
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