Europe is rearming. For aerospace and defence companies, that should be straightforward good news: order books full for years, demand that hasn't existed at this scale in decades.
Jaime Andreo spent eight years inside that world, including leading FP&A at Eurofighter. His point is that the hardest part is that these companies are now being asked to deliver at a speed their planning systems were never built for.
Cash flow forecasting in this sector doesn't behave like it does elsewhere. Payments tie to milestones, government approvals, parliamentary decisions. Factors that sit entirely outside the company's control and can reshape an annual forecast overnight.
And the data problem underneath is worse than it looks. Every major player runs the same ERP, which sounds like it should solve consistency. Yet, it does not. Programme offices, joint ventures and subcontractors each maintain their own version of the truth, and the consolidated view a CFO receives was often assembled by hand.
Jaime's conclusion is the one nobody selling software wants to hear: the tools are already there. The foundation underneath them isn't.