Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to Hensoldt's Capital Markets Day 2024. Thank you all for coming to London today. It's amazing to have so many of you here today in person, but I can see that there are many on the webcast as well. It's great to have you all here. I'm Veronika Endres, Head of Investor Relations at Hensoldt, and with me are the members of the management board: Oliver Dörre, our CEO; Christian Ladurner, our CFO; and Lars Immisch, our CHRO. Before Oliver will kick off a presentation, let's have a brief look at today's agenda and some housekeeping. Oliver will start with an update on how Hensoldt is executing on and benefiting from a very dynamic market environment, making Hensoldt an attractive investment opportunity. After that, Oliver will introduce North Star, our growth vision for 2030 and beyond.
Christian will then elaborate on the first strategic axis of North Star: deliver at scale. Next, Oliver will provide more detail on our commitment to grow the focus, as well as how Hensoldt is responding to changing customer demands, in particular Software-Defined Defense . Lars will then demonstrate our plans on how to lead our teams into the future. Finally, Christian will provide more details on our financial performance. We have planned a coffee break of 15 minutes after around an hour, so at 3:30. A Q&A session is planned towards the end of the presentation, with plenty of opportunity for questions for both the in-person audience and also for those who are joining virtually.
As in the last years, we will conclude the day with a reception and light dinner at the Hithe + Seek Wine Bar here at the hotel, where you will also have a chance to exchange with our management team. Now, one last remark from my side: please note that this event is being recorded, and the video will be available on our website shortly after. With that, over to you, Oliver.
Yes, dear investors in Hensoldt, dear analysts, dear ladies and gentlemen, a very warm and also cordial welcome from my side to this Capital Markets Day here today in London. Thank you very much for joining us. Of course, as you all know, I'm 10 months in the job as CEO, so you agree for sure that this is a very special event for me. I can share with you, and to some of you I've talked already, I'm really keen, motivated, and eager to share with you our comprehensive growth strategy. I'm also looking forward to discussing that with you later in the presentation today. Let's kick it off, and I want to highlight probably four key success factors that underline the very strong investment case that Hensoldt is representing.
First, Hensoldt continues to benefit from a significant and sustained market growth driven by a very robust demand to enhance defense capabilities in Germany, in Europe, and across the globe. Hensoldt is a technology and innovation leader and invests continuously in next-generation capabilities. Hensoldt is Germany's defense electronics champion, with the German government as anchor shareholder, and what I can also say after 10 months, with very strong political support. We, the Hensoldt management, have a clear plan, and we will guide you through that on how to take the company from great to excellent and to continue to deliver on our promises. Before I dive deeper into these four key success factors, I would like to talk briefly about our new growth strategy and our path towards Hensoldt 2.0. We are charting our course towards Hensoldt 2.0 via three waypoints.
Early in the tenure as CEO, I've introduced three midterm priorities to help us focus on this way ahead. Firstly, it is about operational excellence. This means further increasing our delivery capability in terms of quantity and quality. We have defined clear action plans for this. We continue to expand and stabilize our supply chain. We have launched a comprehensive transformation in our engineering governance, and we will improve our bids and projects management. Secondly, we have reassessed our international presence to become more focused. This involves two elements: where do we want to sell, which products in the future, and how do we position ourselves for this in our what we call home or key countries. Our clear goal is to generate around 50% of our sales in Germany, around 30% in Europe and with NATO partners, and the remaining 20% in deliberately selected markets.
To achieve this, we are creating a dedicated strategic account management both for our military customers and for our major industrial partners. Improving the integration of sales and business development is another area of focus. Thirdly, we want to drive the digitalization of our portfolio more consistently and systematically and become a truly digital company. We will expand our solution expertise by focusing on connectivity, system of systems architectures, networking, and software. Artificial intelligence, which is currently on everyone's lips, remains an important topic. But for us, as a sensor house and solution provider, it is much more than that. Because one thing is clear: our customers have a long move towards Software-Defined Defense . The acquisition of ESG and the need to properly integrate this business into Hensoldt triggered a new value-accretive divisional setup that is going live on January 1, 2025.
To this end, we are organizing our divisions according to business type. With the Radar and Electromagnetic Warfare and the Optronics division, we aim to strengthen our core product portfolio. The Multi-Domain Solutions division focuses on the development and the delivery of complete solutions, thus becoming a docking point for our customers who already think across domains. Last but not least, the S ervices and Training division paves the way for a diversification of our service portfolio. The integration of ESG is a decisive step here. This is because ESG brings very valuable skills to the table, particularly in the solution business. It is therefore only logical that we combine the domain structure of ESG with the capabilities of the spectrum dominance and airborne solutions division, the traditional division within the traditional Hensoldt perimeter.
Historically, this division, which we abbreviate as SDAS, is already a pioneer for complete solutions at Hensoldt. So it makes absolute sense in our terms to combine ESG and SDAS and to form the Multi-Domain Solutions division within the areas of air, land, sea, cyber, space, and of course, embracing multi-domain. In the transformation that has begun, our aim is to create divisions that are as pure-play as possible and with a very, very clear focus. It is crucial that the Multi-Domain Solutions division is as product and manufacturer independent as possible and can therefore offer our customers the best solutions. By focusing on the classic product business, the product divisions will gain new momentum, enabling them to meet the massive increase in demand in terms of both quantity and quality.
In addition to the traditional product and system-related services and the logistics business, the Services and Training division will soon also develop new types of service and operator models to further support our growth. North Star is our strategic vision 2030 and beyond. What we try to do in a 360 view, we look at our customers, we look at the employees, and of course, we look at you, we look at the capital market, and develop a resilient growth formula for Hensoldt 2.0 and more on North Star in a couple of minutes. Let me now circle back to the key success factors that are driving our strong investment case. Our momentum for growth is strongly driven by increased defense spending. Already today, 23 of the 32 NATO member states achieve or exceed 2% of their GDP for defense, and we see a robust growth in defense budgets across Europe.
Despite the recent breakup of the Traffic Light Coalition in Germany, as we call it, we see a strong commitment both in the Ministry of Defense and in the German Parliament, and that roots back to the intimacy, the discussions we are having in Berlin, to not disrupt the approval of defense procurement programs. We have even seen in recent publication of a new security and defense industry strategy that clearly defines sensors, AI, and digitalization as a core of Germany's key defense technologies. The election date in February indicates that we will have a new government that is capable to act in early summer. All democratic parties have clearly committed to raising defense budgets and continued support for Ukraine.
At the same time, the incoming US administration reiterated its strong expectation that Europe must be able to defend itself without major US support and further increase Europe's defense spending. I expect that this will have a catalyzing effect, this US stance on foreign and defense policy towards the European defense spending already in the short to midterm. This is fully in line with NATO's recent capability review, where the alliance outlined the urgently required increase in frontline capabilities. For example, the number of combat brigades shall be increased from 82 to 131, and there is a strong push to rebuild ground-based air defense systems from around 300 to almost 1,500. All three events, the early parliamentary elections in Germany, Trump taking office in January, and NATO's capability review will increase underlying defense spending, especially in Europe, including Germany.
While recent short-term developments have provided us with commercial opportunities, I would like to point out the longer-term storyline. For the first time in decades, we see a broad political consensus towards reconstituting a credible European defense and deterrence capability, and Hensoldt is ideally positioned to capture growth from this development also vis-à-vis our peers. This is reflected in a substantial order backlog and the technological requirements of our customers. Even with an end, and we have been asked that question many, many times, and maybe we come up with that in the Q&A again, but even with the end of open hostilities in Ukraine, the demand for defense capabilities like air defense, advanced Sensors, and self-protection will remain robust. Since 2019, we have tripled our order backlog from EUR 2 billion to more than EUR 6.5 billion today.
This is a strong testament to our market position, our technological leadership, and the quality of our products. Obviously, a large order book is also a very big commitment to deliver to our customers, to also deliver what we have promised to you, to the capital market. We have shown our capability to deliver for 16 quarters in a row since the IPO, and the management, and I think I can speak for Lars, Christian and the rest of our executive committee, the management is fully committed to continue this success story. This ambition is strongly backed up by a large pipeline, which has quadrupled to around EUR 40 billion since the IPO. We are capitalizing on growing budgets, the positive market developments that I have mentioned earlier, and the need of an increase of conventional capabilities and new platforms with an ever-increasing electronics content.
Our proven ability to convert the pipeline into concrete orders is illustrated by a few important orders from all business segments that we have received this year. With a combined order intake of around EUR 750 million, radars for air defense are currently our best sellers. This includes orders for the German short and very short-range air defense system, orders within the framework of the European Sky Shield Initiative for Latvia and Slovenia, and orders for Skyr anger in Denmark and Austria. The demand for armored vehicles is constantly rising, and we have recently booked an order for around EUR 100 million to supply periscopes and weapon sites for the Leopard 2 tanks of Germany. This segment of the business will see strong growth in the coming years with additional value creation through digital sites and other advanced capabilities like our see-through armored systems, SETAS vision system.
ESG has booked the already eighth follow-on contract to operate the spare parts logistics for the German Armed Forces with a volume of approximately EUR 100 million. Serving as, I would say, the Amazon of the Bundeswehr, ESG has become an indispensable partner for the German army and has built significant trust and customer intimacy over decades. Our high precision measurement technology, IFF, is at the core of ASML's extreme ultraviolet microchip manufacturing process. We provide a unique capability in this area and have built a very strong relationship to ASML, allowing us to further develop this technology. With an order volume of roughly EUR 90 million this year and benchmark profitability, IFF complements our defense portfolio nicely.
The follow-on contract for radars on two additional F-126 frigates raises the total order book for this vessel type to around EUR 200 million and illustrates also our ability to secure contracts from existing and ongoing programs. Ladies and gentlemen, the strong order intake that I've described on the previous slide is based on strong market demand, but also on our leading sensor technology across all domains. This is why I would like to pivot on the area of Hensoldt's technological leadership now. The four examples we have selected for you today have one thing in common. They combine increasingly smart Sensors, apply a layer of sensor data fusion, and as a result, not only enhance the situational picture of military decision makers, but also paving the way towards Software-Defined Defense . Hensoldt's Sferion is our answer to the ever-increasing mass of information on the battlefield.
Sferion integrates various Sensors to convert their data into mission-relevant information. It networks Sensors from Hensoldt, but also third-party systems, fusing data streams into a single image. This processed and evaluated data provides a smart operational picture, enhancing situational awareness and decision-making. TwinSens combines our passive radar Twinvis with a TRML-4D active radar. In surveillance mode, the system operates with no radio emissions using the air picture that is provided by Twinvis. Only for tracking and weapon engagement, the active radar is switched on for a short time, greatly reducing the vulnerability of valuable ground-based air defense assets. Kalaetron Integral is the mission system of the German Pegasus Airborne Surveillance Program. Kalaetron Integral detects and classifies signals across a wide range of frequencies, from radio communication to radar. The system features exceptional accuracy, high sensitivity, a broad frequency range, and extended time on station.
The highly automated workflows are powered by machine learning and AI algorithms, which accelerate the decision-making while reducing the workload for operators. OctoEye 360 provides submarines with a 360-degree non-rotating panorama view by combining eight high-resolution cameras and eight thermal images. The video images from all these Sensors are stitched on the fly, stabilized, and enhanced to provide the submarine commander with much improved situational awareness. Our technological leadership, in combination with being pure-play and platform-agnostic, contributes directly to another key differentiator of Hensoldt. We are uniquely positioned across the most relevant defense platforms present and future, not only in Germany, but also across Europe. Let me briefly illustrate the unique benefits of this position. The development of the Eurofighter started in 1986, and the aircraft will remain in service way beyond 2050, leading to a program lifetime of more than 60 years.
In this time span, the user nations will have spent more than EUR 250 billion on development, production, operation upgrades, and enhancements. For future systems like the Future Combat Air System, FCAS, there are estimations that the total system and operating costs may reach more than EUR 1 trillion. While these figures must be taken with a grain of salt, it is clear that key defense programs provide a long-term revenue platform, especially for defense electronics and Sensors that have to be upgraded on a regular basis. In addition to our traditionally strong position in programs like Eurofighter and the Leopard 2 tank, our acquisition of ESG opens opportunities for an enlarged role of Hensoldt in programs like the F-35, the CH-47, and the P-8.
I already mentioned European initiatives like FCAS or Main Ground Combat System, MGCS, but also national programs like NNbS for the German air defense, which will have a significant service life with a huge future potential. Let me now pick up on previously introduced third key enabler or success factor for Hensoldt's growth. In the past seven years, we have gained the trust of our political stakeholders and have established ourselves as a partner of choice in the German defense ecosystem. Hensoldt is a key supplier to the German armed forces and the undisputed national German sensor champion, and we have strengthened this position further with the acquisition of ESG. Our political stakeholders reacted very favorably to this deal, and I heard the comment, "What belongs together is together at once," and this I heard also a couple of times.
The 25.1% shareholding of the German government in Hensoldt helps to protect German key technology, especially in the light of the new security and defense strategy, and serves to us, Hensoldt, as an anchor of independence. Remaining pure-play and platform-agnostic is our core DNA for future growth. I spent a considerable time of my first month within Hensoldt to intensify the dialogue with all stakeholders across the political landscape, and the picture on this slide illustrates the benefits of a very strong political support also outside of Germany. Having elaborated on three of the key success factors, significant and sustained market growth, technological leadership, and strong political support, I would now like to introduce our strategy to capture future growth to you. Let me quickly recap that North Star, our strategic vision, builds on the midterm priorities and the new divisional setup, and now paves the way towards a Hensoldt 2.0.
North Star is defining our ambition and direction to achieve the growth and the market position we strive for. North Star provides us with guardrails of our strategy and will help us to align all initiatives towards our vision in the upcoming strategy cycle. So what's North Star as our strategic vision? North Star has been developed considering the most critical expectations from our Hensoldt customers, shareholders, and employees. Guided by North Star, Hensoldt is transforming to take new responsibilities as a reliable industrial champion, as a pioneer in Software-Defined Defense , as a mission operations partner, and becoming the German champion and European challenger with global reach. North Star's strategic vision guides us through our next stage of growth. It is built around four strategic axes. It starts with our commitment to grow with focus.
We will continue to deliver sustainable and profitable growth in Germany, Europe, and selected international markets as the leading platform-independent defense electronics partner. The foundation of this focused growth is to deliver at scale. We are achieving a step change in operational excellence to meet volume and performance requirements. In this area, we have progressed significantly in the past months, especially regarding our supply chain. We will continue with determination on this path and drive operational excellence in all areas. Our ambition now is to pioneer Software-Defined Defense . We will digitalize and enhance platform-independent core products, become an integrator of multi-domain data-enabled solutions, and expand into new data services. A key enabler on this journey, and that's from the bottom of my heart, is our team, which we will lead into the future as one Hensoldt. We will become a unique employer of choice in our sector.
North Star also gives us a clear direction to build critical capabilities that we need to succeed: industrial and operational excellence, digitalization and data, new business models, agility in our operating model, a structured go-to-market, defense ecosystem leadership, as well as enhanced, and that is also very important for me, enhanced and new partnerships. North Star provides us with a new growth formula, which will take Hensoldt to the next level and accelerate our growth. While so far we have committed to doubling our revenues every five years, we are convinced that this resilient growth formula will go beyond this previous target and reach EUR 5 billion in revenues by 2030, predominantly through organic growth. We will not only enhance our existing sensor products, diversify into value-added services and multi-domain solutions, but also optimize our international presence, all contributing to a bigger and better Hensoldt.
We will now, as we go forward in the presentation, dive deeper into the four axes of North Star and start with the foundation, deliver at scale, presented by Christian. I will then cover grow with focus and pioneer Software-Defined Defense , and last, we'll show you how we lead our team into the future. Christian.
Yeah, thank you very much, Oliver. Indeed, delivering at scale is a necessity and our foundation to further grow with focus. Our starting position is excellent, and you know our record or the backlog level. It's a proven track of revenue visibility, and our ambition to grow is supported by three main pillars, as you can see. First, and as you have communicated before, it's worth highlighting again.
With a Hensoldt GO , we are focused on creating a more industrialized, more agile, and more resilient company, and we have already achieved a lot and continue to drive these efforts forward. Secondly, we've made significant investments and are still investing into our infrastructure and into our production capacities. Third, our processes are becoming smarter, fully digitalized, and more integrated with our ERP transformation, which is on track for full implementation by 2027. Now let me dive into some of the details. Hensoldt will achieve a step change in operational excellence to meet increasing customer demands and sustain long-term growth. Here is the basis for this ambitious goal. We are successfully on track on industrializing our technology, and there are highly skilled workforce and state-of-the-art production sites laid as a foundation for this execution. We continue to invest strategically to realize significant growth.
This growth, again, is underpinned by value extraction and margin delivery, which is again bolstered by our Hensoldt GO program. With Hensoldt GO being a multi-year program, and many of you remember wave one, wave two, and now being in the middle of wave three, I'd like to update you now on the achievements we have done since the last CMD and how we are stepping on towards operational excellence to meet increasing customer demand. First, industrial. We have fully integrated 11 out of 32 key products, including TRML-4D and SPEXER radars, as well as sights and periscopes for armored vehicles. Next year, we plan to ramp up further and build on the success. We will show some details in the upcoming slots. Second, agile. We have set up an engineering hub to externalize engineering work packages in a well-orchestrated way.
By the end of this year, we will have externalized more than 10% of our engineering workload, and we will further increase this figure to cope with the increasing backlog. Third, a robust supply chain is essential for our growth and international expansion. We have significantly improved our on-time delivery rate and stabilized supply chain quality for critical parts. While our Hensoldt GO is really focusing on operational excellence, it's absolutely clear that optimization on its own is not enough to reach the growth. Therefore, we make significant investments into our infrastructure. Let's first come to Ulm. In Ulm, we have significantly expanded our production capacity and increased our headcount by over 120 headcounts, with 20 more expected by year-end.
We took investments in machinery, including assembly line, testing, and optimization, and this has boosted our TRML-4D production capacity from two units in 2021 to at least 18 units expected in the upcoming years. For SPEXER, our production capacity is set to reach 97 units by year 2025, up from 20 units last year. This is a significant increase in production. Let's now move on to Oberkochen and Wetzlar. We have achieved similar milestones. There is news and a new site in Wetzlar was successfully completed early this year in spring. In 2021, as many of you know, we decided to completely build a new site in Oberkochen by a real estate company for our optronics business, reflecting the strong order book and growth prospects.
This move is on track and within budget, and the new facility will enable us more efficiently and more profitable operations with a synergistic structure, modern environment, and modular workspaces. In a nutshell, this new facility gives us and supports our growth in mainly two ways. First of all, it provides us the necessary capacity to achieve our planned volumes in this segment. Secondly, of course, improved ways of working more seamlessly throughout the value chain will positively impact our profitability. Specifically, this new building will support the ramp-up of production capacity for existing products like our periscopes and new products such as the optronics weapon system or the SETAS program. While I've talked now a lot about production capacity, serious production requires a robust supply chain as a very stable backbone.
We are pleased now to update you on the latest investments in our new logistics center in Laichingen. As you have seen in this video, our new logistics center will offer centralized logistics services for the production sites in Ulm and Oberkochen. This site is the first site to fully go live with S/4HANA, the enterprise warehouse management system, ensuring full process integration and real-time traceability of all logistics processes. As you know, our plan with S/4HANA goes well beyond Laichingen. Let's look now at the third key enabler for delivering at scale besides Hensoldt GO and besides investments. It's the implementation of One SAP now. This, as I've stated before, will significantly enhance our data management, our analytical capabilities, and business insights, enabling a smooth and efficient growth across all regions we operate.
It will create an end-to-end focus, allowing data to flow seamlessly throughout the organization and breaking down functional silos. We are on track to roll out this program across the entire Hensoldt group by 2027. Following now the successful implementation in Laichingen, we will continue to further roll out the modules in our German entities to start, including CRM and HCM in 2025. Of course, we understand yours, the investors, the shareholders, the analysts' concerns about implementing such a large IT project. However, we are confident and absolutely convinced that we are on the right path, not only replacing the entire IT infrastructure, but also designing our processes to maximize the benefits of this new system.
To underline this, I want to show you a short statement, a short video from Nils Thiemann , who is from SAP, who guides us as a leading partner throughout this tremendous project.
My name is Nils Tinnemann, and I'm head of the manufacturing and automotive sector and member of the management board at SAP Germany. I would like to take this opportunity to highlight your outstanding approach in implementing SAP S/4HANA. From our perspective, the chosen greenfield approach is a great fit and exactly the right choice. It closely follows industry best practices and is a perfect balance between implementation risks and new innovations. The professionalism with which your team is approaching the One SAP Now project is truly exceptional. In my view, Hensoldt is a role model in terms of project planning, management, and execution.
We see this level of quality and excellence in very few projects, and you can be truly proud of your team and your achievements. I wish you continued success, and we are looking forward to the future path together.
You might remember, and I remember it quite well, that around the time last year, we announced the acquisition of ESG. Besides the attractive financial profile we have seen in ESG, we have identified significant cost and revenue synergies that will further contribute to our growth ambitions. On the one hand, cost synergies are mainly driven by increasing operating leverage, not by cost cutting, as already outlined after closing. We expect these cost synergies to reach EUR 19 million by 2028. Additionally, we have identified revenue synergies are on track to achieve both. Our teams have focused on identifying key order intakes and revenue synergies.
At this stage, let me highlight two very concrete examples. Our Kalaetron solution, where Oliver has also mentioned before, will be developed to fuse Sensors and optronics data, and ESG will contribute decisively to the integration of this system. Secondly, for camp protection against drone and mortar attacks, Hensoldt provides high-performance Sensors, while ESG offers a C2 backbone and integration tailoring protection solutions to our customer requirements. With this, I hand back over to you, Oliver, again for a detailed look at two other axes of North Star. One is grow with focus, and the other one is pioneering software defense.
Thank you, Christian. As we have laid the foundation, now it is my pleasure to introduce you to our commitment, grow with focus, and how we will achieve our EUR 5 billion revenue target in 2030.
The ongoing war in Ukraine and the numerous conflicts in the Middle East have the potential to spread into neighboring regions. Tensions in hotspots such as the South China Sea or in the Arctic threaten global stability. Hence, we intentionally selected a map with the Pacific Rim at the center as the focus of the world shifts east. The threat environment today is multifaceted. It is not only between individual regional actors, but it is spreading across regions. It includes a larger battle for economic power, the fight for access to resources and energy, and the migration flows and cyber attacks. What's different today is that all these developments are happening at the same time and with an accelerated speed. This pace of change and high unpredictability of events is driving overall instability to new levels seldom seen before.
Obviously, this drives the demand for the defense capabilities across a much broader spectrum, as we will see. We see a strong requirement to refill and increase conventional equipment due to materials sent to Ukraine and because of the realization that NATO is dramatically under-equipped for a larger conventional conflict. Russia and China are investing heavily into massive quantities of conventional equipment today. They have war economies. Germany has roughly 300 main battle tanks in its entire arsenal, while Russia produces that number in under three months. China now has the largest navy in the world by number of hulls, roughly 50 more than the U.S. Navy. NATO must accelerate spending in response. Although the U.S. remains an important ally, there is mounting pressure from across the Atlantic for Europe to spend more on defense.
Most NATO members will reach or exceed the 2% target of GDP on defense spending this year. But with real threats on Europe's doorstep, there is a growing discussion driven by NATO's Secretary General, who recently took the position to increase the target to 3% or even higher. Nevertheless, the alliance cannot match the sheer numbers of its potential adversaries' conventional forces. With accelerating technological advancements, our customers are seeking agile solutions. New high-quality capabilities are required to counter the massive quantities of adversaries, or saying it in a different way, smart assets are force multipliers that degrade the military effectiveness of an opponent's superior quantities of dumb assets. What is required in the future is faster development and production of equipment.
Key elements here are systems of systems that provide full solutions instead of unconnected individual assets, spiral upgrades instead of long and expensive development cycles, and Software-Defined Defense instead of hardware centricity of the past. Hensoldt expects a strong demand from increased spending. Our products and solutions are at the forefront of technology, and we are ideally positioned to provide what our customers need today and in the future. When taking all our accessible markets together, we expect a growth of around 7.5% per year to 2030, although the growth rates will differ quite a bit across our market segments. The fastest growing segment is electromagnetic warfare, where we project a growth of 10% CAGR.
The war in Ukraine, with a requirement for superior intelligence, increased use of drones, new technologies in a connected battlefield, jamming and spoofing, and many others have clearly shown how critical electromagnetic warfare is or has become for the warfighters' operations. The radar and optronics segment are also growing fast, driven by a strong overall demand for situational awareness and increased air defense requirements, but also trends such as connected Sensors and a move from analog to digital optronics. The trends are supported by a more streamlined procurement process. We see major procurement programs moving rapidly and at greater scale as all the participants have realized the importance of moving fast and decisively in today's very dynamic threat environment. Germany's defense spending continues to be one of the fastest growing markets overall due to the underspending of the past decades and the need to re-equip the forces.
We forecast the defense spending CAGR at 7.4% in Germany, 5.5% in Europe, and 4.5% internationally until 2030. We expect our defense electronics accessible markets to outpace this growth in the broader defense markets in all regions. This is due to the increasing electronics content and a push towards new technological capabilities. Our German defense electronics market is growing at more than 10%, while Europe and international markets are growing around 7% per year. While growing at a lower rate than Germany, those accessible markets offer enormous potential at a combined size of roughly EUR 25 billion annually, a potential more than seven times the size of our German market. One of our midterm priorities is internationalization. Hensoldt is well positioned to capture significantly higher market share in those large markets.
We will discuss our strategy and the steps we will take to achieve our growth ambitions later in this session. Ladies and gentlemen, the addition of ESG adds key integration capabilities and contributes to our solution expertise. ESG strongly supplements Hensoldt's capabilities in connectivity, networking, system-of-systems architectures, services, and multi-domain operation integration. The addition of ESG also increases our addressable market by roughly EUR 6 billion per annum and makes up around 20% of our overall market today. ESG's addressable market exhibits strong growth at rates similar to Hensoldt's existing market. This growth is driven by strong demand for integration services and multi-domain solutions, especially in ESG's most important market in Germany. ESG has been integrated with Hensoldt's spectrum dominance airborne solutions to create new Multi-Domain Solutions division . This is underlining our increased focus on solutions going forward and key to capturing the full synergy potential of this important acquisition.
We will discuss more the progress on the post-merger integration of ESG and synergies in more detail later in the presentation. You will recall that German market growth is at a strong CAGR of 10.6% by 2030. There are three key drivers behind German defense spending, and Hensoldt is positioned across each of them. First, customers are buying larger quantities of equipment at a faster pace. Eurofighter Quadriga, Leopard tanks, and the F-126 frigates are examples. Of course, Hensoldt benefits since our Sensors are on each of these platforms. Second, existing capabilities are being upgraded with the latest electronics, such as the Eurofighter electromagnetic warfare upgrades, Eurofighter Mark I radar rebase line, and the F-124 frigate program, where we upgrade the radar. As the incumbent which invests in technology development, Hensoldt is the natural partner for upgrade contracts.
Third, due to our customer intimacy, track record, and know-how, we are positioned on development contracts that bring new capabilities to the German military. Examples include the Pegasus signal intelligence platform and the NNbS short and very short-range air defense system. Moreover, higher volumes and upgraded capabilities drive increased service and training requirements, which will add to our growth over time. We are also increasingly benefiting from the added integration and solution capabilities from ESG and its clear focus on the German market, where it has been the trusted partner for the German MoD for integration and solution work over decades. As stated, our ambition is to grow our revenues to EUR 5 billion in 2030. This goes beyond the doubling of revenues every five years that we have set as our objective so far.
To achieve our targets, we expect organic revenue growth of approximately 10% per year, which is roughly comparable to the past. It also means that we will continue to grow faster than overall our market. Here are a few examples of what concretely we will do to achieve this level of growth. First, we are responding to strong customer demand by increasing our production capacity. We've already taken the first significant steps with a new production line at our Ulm site, our new logistics center, you saw it, and our operational excellence initiative, and we will continue to expand our capacities to match the strong and progressively still increasing demand. Second, we will sell more solutions and grow along the value chain. This business develops along two different axes. In the first axis, we are combining our existing product strengths with the integration capabilities of ESG, especially in Germany.
A current example is the Korsak, next-generation reconnaissance vehicle program of the German army. Here, we are offering a combination of smart Sensors with Sferion to fuse sensor data, and ESG is doing the integration work. The second axis is to develop the solution business by integrating third-party equipment on various platforms, another strong capability of ESG. One example is the new German frigate program for air and ballistic missile defense, the F-127, where we expect significant work share to integrate radar and combat management system components. Third, the services business is growing with the installed base and as equipment is used more intensively. Operational readiness is at the top of the agenda of the armed forces. We are adding new services with ESG, including logistics, which is becoming much more important in the future.
We are also developing new business models in Software-Defined Defense that I will explain later to you. Fourth, we are changing the way we are selling our products. We have thoroughly reviewed our go-to-market approach and identified additional potential by introducing a more focused account management. We have now defined six key accounts, whereas German Bundeswehr remains our top account, which makes up to 40% of our revenues and 30% of our pipeline. Key accounts are government customers or industry partners. Further, we will also target approximately 60 strategic accounts globally, where we will strengthen existing relationships and develop new business opportunities. Then we will work closer together across our divisions and geographies in Europe. In some cases, this means we will stop doing the same work twice, where we have developed similar capabilities in different divisions in the past.
Such activities will now be allocated to just one division, streamlining our ability to develop and produce faster with better results. We are taking a smart partnership approach as we continue to focus on our core strengths and work with partners to access technologies we don't have and markets we cannot reach alone. In addition, we will continue to grow through M&A, adding around EUR 600 million of revenues by 2030. We feel fully confident, given our experience from the nine acquisitions in the past, including ESG, our latest and largest acquisition to date. Our M&A strategy will have special focus on digitalization and internationalization. Lastly, as a German champion and leading European pure-play defense electronics company, we will continue to look at M&A in the context of German and European consolidation, where it makes sense.
Of course, we will not acquire just for size or market share, and we will stay mindful with respect to valuation, risk profile, and our ability to integrate those acquisitions effectively. As promised, we will now dive deeper into Hensoldt's revised regional targets and how we will further develop our international presence in a focused manner to achieve our growth ambitions. Today, our revenue split per region is roughly 60% Germany, 25% Europe, and 15% international. Our goal in 2030 is to generate around 50% of our sales in Germany, around 30% in Europe, and the remaining 20% in selected global markets. Germany will continue to remain our strongest market and home country. The six key accounts just mentioned previously are largely intended to maintain our solid relationship here. We will also offer the full scope of our products, services, and solutions.
Now, if any one of you already crunched the numbers, these targets imply that we are growing faster in regions outside Germany than in Germany. Yes, we believe that there is a large potential in international markets. As you could see from LinkedIn, for those ones who follow, I spend a lot of time this year going internationally into those markets, and that is really strengthening our belief that in these markets, also where we have only a small presence today, we can go far bigger. We intend to capture a much greater share of the market abroad going forward. I mentioned how our revised go-to-market approach with six key accounts and a few dozen international strategic accounts will help us to achieve our growth ambitions. In addition, we narrowed our geographic focus.
This increased focus actually is an upside for us, as our go-to-market will become smarter through the strategic accounts, and we will increase our probability to win new contracts. In Europe, our home countries of France and the UK remain priorities. We focus our efforts on additional high-opportunity countries like Ukraine and the Scandinavian countries. Several Eastern European countries have also been identified as ripe for development through stronger relationships with governance, strategic accounts, and industrial partners. There is room to increase cross-selling of Hensoldt's products, solutions, and services to existing customers, yet we will keep our existing portfolio, and we will not develop bespoke solutions abroad. Beyond Europe, we down-selected strategic countries, specifically the US and Canada, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, India, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt, to develop through local partnerships and strategic alliance while maximizing, and that is key, the government-to-government levers for export opportunities.
Here, our focus is on existing products and related services. Hensoldt is successfully leveraging partnerships to develop business opportunities and expand market access. We are an attractive partner given our technological leadership and platform independence with our strong position in Germany and Europe. Our partnership efforts are fully aligned with the EU-first industrial defense strategy, which calls for a heightened level of collaboration and consolidation. We have well-established partnerships with companies like Leonardo, Indra, Thales, Safran, Rheinmetall, Diehl, Rohde & Schwarz through various consortia, and I just named them: Euroradar, Eurodrone, EuroArt, FCMS, ESSI, and EuroDASS. Well-established consortia. We recently, on top of that, reconfirmed partnerships with RTX and Lockheed Martin. In addition to cooperation on air surveillance radars, we recently signed an MoU with RTX, enhanced electro-optical systems for not only Germany but all NATO forces.
We strengthened our long-standing partnership with Lockheed Martin with a new MoU to explore cooperation on maritime command and control systems. I mentioned the F127, and we cooperate with Boeing to support German P-8A Poseidon and the CH-47 heavy transport helicopters fleets. We also have an MoU with Kongsberg in place, where we develop cooperation opportunities in the areas of land, naval, and space. Moreover, we are currently exploring a variety of cooperation opportunities with BAE Systems and also with SAP. With this, I think we have earned ourselves a break. Before we dive into the exciting topic of Software-Defined Defense , so enjoy your break, and I think back to you, Veronika, to give a little bit of the housekeeping.
Yeah, that's right. We will have a break now, and I would suggest that we start again at 3:00 PM. So feel free, help yourself, and refresh.
Okay, so I hope you are all feeling refreshed, as now we are jumping into the most ambitious axis of our North Star strategy. It's about pioneering Software-Defined Defense . Despite that, I have been asked not to leave the script, but I had a lot of questions of you before on that topic. I try to do a bottom line upfront, as you can read also on the media, talking a lot to US companies these days. I think it's quite common to have this bottom line upfront and try with really my words, and that goes along with also what Lieutenant General Vetter , it's the German CIO, he has recently announced an article in Germany about Software-Defined Defense . To make it more simple, of course, we will go into all the details after. Software-Defined Defense is about networking, data, and software.
Networking is key because with networking, it's a paradigm shift. We have to understand the products, our Sensors, beyond the sensor. We have to understand it in the ecosystem of a platform, and we have to understand it across the battlefield in a system of systems architecture. I think that's very much key on also driving our products, how we can make them ready for this new paradigm in being able to connect. Second thing is data. I said it many times. Data is the ammunition of the battlefield today. Especially coping with mass, you need the data, transfer it into information in order to be able to have a better situational awareness, make faster, better decisions, and afterwards translate that into precise engagements. Software is the glue.
That is what puts all of this together, the data, the Sensors, the various elements to kind of make that the capability is more than just the sum of the individual parts. It really builds capabilities that go beyond products, and it also allows to dynamically cope with changing requirements and develop those capabilities quicker over time, not being able to buy new hardware and so on. Maybe that helps a little bit to make it a bit more condensed, and of course, let's now go into the details. As mentioned in my introduction, we aim to digitize and enhance platform-independent core products, become an integrator of multi-domain data-enabled solutions, and expand into new data services. This move is, and I say it, transformational for Hensoldt, as we expand our business model and tap adjacent markets to add new revenue streams.
Before we get into the details, let's hear how the German Bundeswehr views the Software-Defined Defense from Dr. Thomas Czerwinski . He's a retired general and a former co-director of the Franco-German Research Institute, ISL.
Today's armed forces rely on a wide range of systems with highly diverse technical designs. Modernized digital systems operate alongside older systems that have undergone various upgrades, such as the Leopard battle tanks family or the Marder and Puma infantry fighting vehicles. The greatest challenge is to ensure compatibility across the systems in use on land, in the air, and at sea while enabling seamless exchange of digital data. This is where Software-Defined Defense , in short SDD, comes into play. SDD is a modular, open, and scalable software solution designed to enable seamless data exchange between proprietary legacy systems and modern digital technologies.
It guarantees systems interoperability and allows the Sensors and data to contribute to a common situational picture. By prioritizing software over hardware, SDD provides greater flexibility in responding to technical and tactical demands as well as evolving threats. This approach supports faster, more cost-effective upgrades through the reuse of standardized software modules. Artificial intelligence plays an increasingly important role in the processing of vast amounts of data. In the context of multi-domain operations, which optimize operational coordination across multiple dimensions, SDD forms a technological backbone for real-time data processing, analysis, and process automation. Despite its benefits, SDD also presents challenges, particularly in terms of data integration. Large volumes of heterogeneous data must be processed in real time to deliver rapid, decision-relevant information. Many legacy military systems were never intended for networking or integration with modern software solutions, which makes significant adaptation necessary.
However, the software-centric approach allows this adaptation to be implemented with greater flexibility and cost efficiency. Another key issue is the interoperability between systems across the EU and NATO. SDD enables the development of standardized software-based solutions that foster seamless collaboration and information sharing among the partners. This enhances the flexibility and responsiveness of armed forces, enabling them to adapt more rapidly to emerging threats. A long-term advantage of SDD lies in strengthening Europe's digital sovereignty. By developing independent solutions, it reduces dependency on external providers while reclaiming control over digital infrastructures. The United States has pursued a comparable approach since 2019. Europe and Germany should follow this example to bolster their digital independence. This also underscores the need to design new systems and IT structures with SDD compatibility in mind. The future combat effectiveness of armed forces will largely depend on software-driven adaptability.
A position paper from the German Minister of Defense aptly captures this vision. Software is a key enabler of modern military operations.
To summarize, General Czerwinski , our customers want to operate seamlessly across domains and to react quickly to new threats on the battlefield. Software, data, networks are the key enablers. Global technological advancement enables networked multi-domain operations and a digitally controlled battlefield, mastery of which will provide a huge advantage to our end customers. However, the transition to software-centricity is a paradigm shift for industry. Our customers as data becomes more important as ammunition. This shift to Software-Defined Defense has four elements. First, software moves to the core of modular weapon systems and network design. Second, data-centric architectures utilize information gathered from Sensors across the battlefield. Third, a decoupling of hardware and software to provide agile response to new threats.
Fourth, a human-centric approach that facilitates operators' decision-making abilities. The building blocks for these four elements are already incorporated in our portfolio and will be further strengthened in our development roadmaps, focusing on these key levers, which we defined as fundamental for Software-Defined Defense . We have the right set of capabilities in several of these levers, which gives us credibility to enter and develop this expanding market. For example, in modular architecture, sensor data fusion, and AI, Hensoldt is strengthening its well-established capabilities. I will show examples of these capabilities a bit later. We must also add new capabilities. To do so, we will focus on smart partnering across these levers with targeted M&A considered as an option as well. Note that the concept of Software-Defined Defense is not unique to Germany. The General mentioned the U.S., but we see similar developments in NATO.
For example, the UK MoD has stated its strategic planning that it is the exploitation of our data that will revolutionize warfare and transform defense. Digitalization and the increasing level of multi-domain connectivity and autonomy are driving the demand of our existing and future product solutions and services. As such, Hensoldt is optimally positioned to drive and capitalize from Software-Defined Defense paradigm shift. Perhaps you recognize the image on the left hand of the picture, which we have presented in previous Capital Market Days presentation, and we told you about the increasing presence of electronics and Sensors on platforms over time. However, the picture on the right is new. Going forward, we do not only look at the sensor content on platforms, but how these platforms network and share sensor data with each other to form a fully connected battlefield.
As the manufacturer of these Sensors, Hensoldt is at the core of Software-Defined Defense and multi-domain operations. Now, let's look closer at how the shift towards Software-Defined Defense will benefit Hensoldt's business activities. First, we will advance our existing products, particularly for enhanced software capabilities, but also to ensure all our Sensors are Combat Cloud ready. Next, we will expand further into diversified services based on software-as-a-service subscription fees that provide our customers with the agility to react quickly to new threats on the battlefield. Lastly, over time, we further expand our multi-domain solutions offering with in-house offers and through strategic partnerships. Data is clearly in demand. At Hensoldt, we make the Sensors that collect the data. We integrate systems to share the data, and we have the sensor data fusion and AI building blocks to analyze and utilize the data.
This is why we are so convinced that Hensoldt is ideally positioned to play the key role in the software-defined ecosystem. This positioning differentiates us from platform manufacturers, software developers, and information technology companies implementing AI in the defense and security perimeter, just to give one example like Helsing. Moreover, we are developing the middleware that overcomes the current existing data silos on the battlefield and connects to the Combat Cloud . This leverages our sensor data fusion and AI capabilities and harmonizes distributed data collected by our Sensors and third-party manufacturers independent from military platforms. Following our open architecture standards, we are fully IT platform agnostic, so we can run on every cloud solution defined by our customers. This gives us the ability to address additional markets without recurring development costs.
In addition, we will expand our business model and offer new data-centric solutions for the battlefield, fully operated by Hensoldt. Looking to the future, one example is offering agile software-as-a-service upgrades, where we adapt software to evolving threats, rapidly boosting our customers' capabilities. That's how Hensoldt will pioneer Software-Defined Defense and expand from hardware sales model to a hybrid model. We will complement our existing AI-driven sensor technology with Combat Cloud networking and adding data and information services. The key building blocks for SDD are already in our portfolio today, as I will show you on the next slides. Sensor data fusion is the merging of sensor data collected from multiple sources into a single operational situational picture. This capability has been at the core of our DNA in the last decade. Today, we provide sensor data fusion capabilities across all domains and on multiple programs.
Few examples are, again, Pegasus for signals intelligence, but also the Future Combat Mission System for FCAS. The Kalaetron, I've mentioned it before, sensor suite, and now new with ESG in the counter-UAS environment, the Elysion software or system integration framework. In addition, Hensoldt Sensors employ edge AI algorithms to identify and classify detected objects in real time without use of cloud infrastructure to pass actionable information to operators. Our AI capabilities work hand in hand with our sensor data fusion capabilities to mitigate operators' overload. Some examples of edge AI in our portfolio includes Kalaetron Integral, Spexer 2000, SETAS, see-through armored systems, and of course, our top sellers, TRS and TRML-4D.
These capabilities form the foundational building blocks for the smart and connected Sensors in Software-Defined Defense , positioning Hensoldt to leverage its proprietary machine learning and edge AI algorithms between Sensors via middleware to analyze big data and develop rapid software upgrades. Let me share one example of how we already began to implement solutions with the Software-Defined Defense building blocks in our portfolio. Our TwinSens solution connects our TRML-4D radar and the Twinvis passive radar under a common automated control. The sensor data from these radars is fused, and AI automation supports operators in identifying potential threats. I showed the overview of the SDD ecosystem to you. TwinSens already networks with third-party effectors, and it can be fully embedded in the ecosystem. What's the key benefit for our customers? Gaining enhanced accuracy given automated and network data processing and analysis.
It's enhanced survivability as the solution is cybersecure and jamming resistant, and it is more resilient from counterattack given the selective use of the active radar only when a hostile threat is detected and an effector needs to be guided to the target. This is the future, and it is in our hands, available for customers already today. It's obvious that the journey to a software-defined company goes along with stringent digitalization of our portfolio. We know it might take several years, but we will accomplish this together with our customers and in collaboration with our partners. We have that ambition, and we will achieve our target with a clear roadmap to software-centricity in place. Key elements for our portfolio digitalization include the prioritization of self-funded R&D budget and additional spending of EUR 6 million in 2025 to ensure the accelerated availability of what our customers desire.
We keep focus on our self-funded R&D to ensure all portfolio developments are aligned with our targets. At the same time, we want to attract customer-funded R&D, particularly in Germany supporting the MoD's push into Software-Defined Defense . This is important to overcome non-recurring development in large programs and to start running next-generation programs or European cooperation initiatives. We intend to build on our trusted partnership to align development roadmaps and targets to stay focused. We will also enter into partnership with other companies in areas outside of our core, such as the Combat Cloud , such as communication, such as cyber-protected grids. This is not only to bridge technology gaps, but it also serves us to accelerate time to market and finally lead to the best solution for our customers. While Hensoldt is core to SDD, there are some topics best left to others.
Complementary to partnering, we intend to pursue targeted M&A, critical to the further digitalization of our portfolio. Acquisition can shorten development cycles, get access to innovative technology, or ensure our competitive positioning. Finally, the digitalization of our portfolio goes hand in hand with the digitalization of our internal systems and processes. We want to become a truly digital company, and we are underpinning our efforts with our One SAP Now, Christian talked about it, initiatives, among other initiatives that we are driving forward. To recap, we see a very prosperous future for Hensoldt through impending industry-wide transformation, which will also transform our company from a leading sensor specialist to a connected sensor house with smart and connected Sensors, but also with diversified services and a multi-domain solutions offering. We are confident to tap exponential future growth ahead for three reasons. First, this is deeply embedded in our DNA.
We are the sensor house with unique background in Sensors and sensor-related services across domains. We own the required sensor data, domain expertise gained over decades. The customers already trust us and buy our sensor data fusion capabilities. This is our strong foundation. This is what we build our SDD ambition on. Second, we combine the DNA with a smart plan, and I have outlined today, and the proven track record of Hensoldt and its management team is to capture opportunities. This is what we will leverage for our future exponential growth. Third, the transition of our customers and their buying plans will open new business opportunities and new business models to us. We will answer. We already formed our new Multi-Domain Solutions division , preparing to capture additional revenue streams. Talking SDD, there is a point to stop. That's our Multi-Domain Solutions division .
With this, I hand over to Lars, who will provide deeper insights on how we will lead our team. They have to make it happen, so up to you, Lars.
Thank you, Oliver. Thank you very much, and good afternoon to all of you. Happy to see you here in London, or I'm happy to be in London. Both is true. You are well aware, Hensoldt's success is not only technology, it's unique culture, and it's people and teams which we have to lead into the future very clearly. How are we planning to do this? This is just giving a snapshot. Otherwise, my speech would be longer than the others, of course. Strong leadership and strategic resource planning, more and more strategic resource planning, I have to say, has always enhanced our competitiveness and especially also our attractiveness to our employees.
These aspects are crucial for any organization, and especially for a company like ours. You may remember how defense, especially in Germany, has been perceived 10 years ago, 5 years ago. This has changed, thank God. These, I would say, very deep link into technology and our ability to do the best was always the connecting point for people who choose to come to us. Employee engagement is and remains a top priority driven by our vision statement. Together, we are making the difference for a safer tomorrow. You are well aware of that. Hensoldt continues to evolve, aiming for greater competitiveness and striving to be the employer of choice in our industry, guided by North Star. You have seen this and listened to it. We believe strongly in fostering a culture of excellence and innovation, empowering employees to excel and contribute to our success.
New ideas are encouraged and supported within our innovative environment. Within Hensoldt, we prioritize our people to drive business success. We take this obligation as management seriously, as shown also in our people targets. Our employees are vital to our success, and we create an environment for them to thrive and grow our business. They are the core of Hensoldt's success. We work closely with universities and institutions, and I focus this time on Germany. Clearly, we have a deep link into the University of the Armed Forces. That's, I would say, a no-brainer, but we are also deeply linked to excellence clusters like Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Technical University Munich, and Fraunhofer Institute.
By the way, with Fraunhofer Institute, just to give a sneak peek and something which may happen, will happen next year, they are also embedded in our new site in Oberkochen, just to give you an example. These relationships allow us to directly access top talent and engage with them in meaningful ways, in the right meaningful ways, I would say. By fostering these strong ties, we ensure that we are always at the forefront of innovation and have access to the best and brightest minds in the industry. SAP HCM Now, so HCM is a subsystem of the SAP project, is human capital management, exemplifies our commitment to a modern people ecosystem, nurturing talent end-to-end from pre-hiring to retirement. It aligns with Hensoldt's strategic resource planning to ensure needed skills are always available.
By leveraging technology like HCM Now, we streamline processes for the benefit of our employees and finally the company. We take great pride in the fact that our employees, and we can really use the word love, working for us. In fact, 67%, two-thirds of our employees are shareholders in the company, which is a statement and a testament to their belief in our company's vision, mission, and continued success, if I may say so. Additionally, we are consistently recognized as a top company by Kununu over years now, with the latest award being the Top Company 2025. You see, Kununu is looking into the future as we do as well. This recognition sets us clearly apart from our competitors and demonstrates our commitment to creating a positive and fulfilling work environment for all of our employees. Our Hensoldt's Refer-A-Friend program is vital for sourcing critical talent.
This one is really linked to critical resources, not in general. Last year, as I take as an example, it helped to hire 142 individuals, providing sustainable hires from trusted sources familiar with our culture, our employees. Leveraging employee networks ensures high-quality candidates, filling approximately 20% of highly critical roles without external recruiters. This saved EUR 400,000, which is also a business case. At Hensoldt, we prioritize employee development through extensive training. In 2023, these are the numbers we have for the full year available, our employees completed 112,000 hours of training focused on professional functional topics. Of course, they have more training, but this one is really linked to enhance the capabilities, skills, and core of our employees. More than 400 training offers align the strategic resource planning, and this is super important for our engineers' global technology trends.
We also run special campaigns and talent programs to identify and nurture individuals for business-critical roles. This goes, I would say, from technical roles upstream to management roles, be it project manager, be it program manager. By developing these talents, we maintain the skills needed to advance our business. You have seen, this is one of the key critical paths. In response to evolving demands, we continuously update our talent programs. In 2024, just take the example, we launched four new programs targeting experts, project managers, and leaders across various careers, not only to traditional, I would say, gymnasium areas. Between 2017 and today, the average age of the workforce decreased from 46 to 44 years. You can say, well, that's not that much. It is something because the guys who have joined Hensoldt already in '17 have aged also.
The majority of the people we hired in between have been clearly in age groups below 40 and below 30. This, I would say, creates an impact. This is, I would say, moving a super tanker, and minus two years is quite something. If I'm looking at the current hires, we continue that path so that we are also ensuring that we have fresh skills and competencies on board, perfectly mixed with the experienced guys we have on board. Due to challenges in the education system, also in Germany, if I may say so, providing well-educated personnel, the company increased efforts to develop young talents internally through a professional vocational training offer. By 2025, we expect that more than 300 employees will be enrolled in dual student and apprenticeship programs.
This is a growth of not exactly, but almost 100% compared to the starting point of Hensoldt. This is quite something, and we have really focused, especially, and I'm proud of that in the last three years on that, also in response to difficult times in the labor market two, three years ago, and we come back to that topic in a second. These programs provide a pipeline of young talents and allow their skills to be developed to meet the technological expertise we need and innovativeness required by our products and our services. This investment ensures that the necessary talent is available to drive the business forward and the company remains competitive. Now we look a little bit very briefly in a case study.
You know, this is not a miracle. Most of the companies are really looking, I would say, to a one-to-one relation if you talk about recruitment. What we have done is we are looking now also collectively into the recruitment process. The defense sector in Germany, it's not only Hensoldt, is currently performing well. I think this is a fair point. It presents an opportunity to attract skilled labor from other companies, from other industries, which are hosting similar capabilities, skills, and competencies to the ones we need. Some of these industries, you are well aware of that as well, are affected by a big industrial transformation. This is our opportunity.
Our focus on excellence, innovation, diversity, and I would say also, and this is fair to say, job security makes us a desirable employer for skilled workers across various industries, which was not the case a couple of years ago. By opening these new recruitment channels and utilizing our strengths, we aim to continue attracting top talent. We are engaged in discussions with two major automotive suppliers as we speak to integrate entire teams and offer recruitment events at the sites of impacted companies. By the way, this does not only create an advantage for Hensoldt as an employer, it also creates an advantage for Hensoldt as a social animal in a given environment.
You can assume if we are going to take over teams and sites or close to sites where we have been working and we are present, this is a win-win situation also for a region. Now we make a 180-degree turn and move to sustainability. Our new refresh, whatever you call it, sustainability strategy is, I think, a step towards a more comprehensive animal. Nevertheless, we have been, of course, patiently pursuing sustainability and, of course, strategic views on sustainability for five years now. You're well aware of that. We updated the strategy this year, 2024, also in the light of matching the CSRD requirements. You know, and this is a bit of a side effect, that Germany will likely not be able to, I would say, transform CSRD into law by 2024, even if this was expected.
We are aiming to comply with CSRD irrespective of this legal move because this is what's going to come, and this is what probably is also important to you. Our approach is holistic and encompassing climate change, societal responsibility, compliance, innovation, and, of course, diversity. Starting with climate change, our target is to become carbon neutral by 2035. That's not new for you. But in 2024, specifically, we have now set ambitious milestones and a clear roadmap aiming for a 60% reduction first step in our carbon footprint scope one and two by 2030. Our approach focuses on energy-saving initiatives. I think this is the first thing, just consume less. Second one, solar power, but also power purchase agreements and, of course, green mobility, unavoidable. From 2026 onwards, long-term contracts with wind and solar parks will cover 26% of our energy demand in Germany.
We have started to implement this year, providing green energy directly from the source. Next year, of course, we will look for possibilities to extend this also to other countries Hensoldt is active in. Next, societal responsibility. At Hensoldt, we strive not only to develop reliable and innovative products, you are aware of that, but also to make a significant contribution to societal progress. We aim to establish and maintain a clear and positive brand positioning us in that respect. Of course, one of the key elements is protection of our democracy or participation in our society. This is also important for our employees. We are not different to other companies in that respect. Our corporate citizenship program encourages employees to invest their free time in social activities.
In doing so, they can apply for a donation to support their societal organizations they volunteer for, whether it's sports, education, or any other areas, of course, environment, whatever you can think of. Moving on to compliance, also that I think is a no-brainer for a company like Hensoldt. Our business is built on the four principles of cooperation, excellence, responsibility, and innovation, supported by a comprehensive ethics and compliance program. We have a strict anti-corruption policy with mandatory training for all employees and clear guidelines also for our business partners. This is not negotiated. Our code of conduct applies to all employees, regardless of their location or position, meaning it starts with us, to be very clear, setting out their general rights and obligations and defining basic rules for internal collaboration.
We are also committed to cybersecurity, continuously training the workforce and improving our protection against cyber threats. On to innovation. We are dedicated clearly to promoting green technologies. Our eco-design guidelines, and now this becomes really, I would say, to the point of our products, are currently under development by the CTO office, but not only leading it, and will be integrated in the engineering processes and, I would say, in the next time in, I would say, all our developments, which we are aiming at next year. We plan a collaboration between also our French entities and the German entities, where we start clearly because they are the resources to further, I would say, evolve in this initiative and expand it. Additionally, of course, we are also, and you have mentioned it, Oliver, already several times, we are ensuring the responsible use of AI in our products.
A team of colleagues from various departments is developing our AI strategy, focusing on both ethical use, as I mentioned, of AI and its application to improve our operations, such as using, and now I'm taking an internal example, ChatGPT for our employees. Last but not least, diversity. As of 2023, 23% of our workforce are represented by female employees. I have to say, we are doing really hard because not necessarily because of defense only. It's just the fact that if you are looking, and take Germany as an example, female engineering students are still a scarce resource, and everybody's jumping on these, every company. So that's why 23% for a company like ours is a good step in the right direction, I would call it like that. Of course, we are committed, clearly committed to bridging the gap in representation, especially in leadership positions.
Our goal is to reach more than 32% women in our leadership team by 2030. Our diversity approach focuses on recruitment and talent development, ensuring at least one woman with equal qualification invited in the succession planning process. We also have targeted leadership programs to increase development opportunities specifically for women. In a broader approach to diversity, we will plan to develop an inclusion index to assess how well employees from diverse backgrounds feel included and valued within the organizations and, of course, taking action from it. That's why we're doing it, not just mirroring the fact. In conclusion, Hensoldt's sustainability strategy is a testament to our commitment to creating a better future. We are dedicated to making a positive impact on the environment, society, and, of course, our business practices. Another use case, these are not just words, we are affected ourselves.
In this, what you see here is the formula which lies behind our variable elements in this respect, the LTI for executive management. Of course, there are traditional KPIs in, such as order intake cumulated, such as total shareholder return, very clearly, but also we have two sustainability-related targets included. One is 15% accounting for carbon emission reductions, we have to say, and, of course, increase of renewable energy implementation to push our degradation of our carbon footprint. That's one element, and the second one is clearly linked to diversity in terms of female participation and leadership, where we have committed, and this is the currently running or granted plan, where we aim to reach already the 32% in 2027, by end of 2027, I have to say. I'm sure we will do.
Coming to a close, and now, of course, sometimes you get a smile on the face if you see how others are mirroring what you do. Here I would like to share, I would say, some rating, which from my perspective underline and underscore our commitment, as mentioned before. Our participation in sustainability ratings allow us to continuously demonstrate and assess our performance in that respect. I'm proud to say that our scores exceed the average in both the aerospace and defense sectors, and of course, our sector positioning us as a sector outperformer. This is my analysis. The widely recognized Morningstar Sustainalytics risk rating tool consistently rates us as a top performer in sustainability risk exposure and management. In '24, this year, we received a score of 16.1, wherein zero indicates no risk and 40 plus indicates severe risk.
This low risk score, which represents 16.1, is the best in aerospace and defense sector and places us amongst the 15% top performers in the sector. MSCI also gave us an excellent rating with a score of AA, the second highest score because they are, and you are well aware of that, they are starting the from CCC and going to AAA. I'm honestly very proud of that as well. With S&P Global, we received a performance score of 48 to 100 out of 100 in 2023, well above the average of defense and space. Let's see how the next one is going to look like. Finally, we earned also a bronze medal in 2023 with EcoVadis, placing us among the top 50% performers across all industries with 53 points out of 100.
These ratings reflect our unwavering dedication to sustainability and our continuous efforts to improve our sustainability performance, which will, of course, continue and guide us also in the context of North Star. I think with this very positive message, as an HR director, I'm used to that, of course, I'm happy to hand back to Christian, who is going to explain how the hell we are going to finance this.
Thanks a lot, Lars. Before I start, again, and I stated this many times, all what we do in terms of strategy, in terms of HR, in terms of our plans culminates in the financials, and this is why we have to look now at how our financial performance looks like. Let me start with a very quick recap of our financial performance of the first nine months of 2024, and they were strong across all KPIs.
Starting with order intake, we were slightly above EUR 1.8 billion, 45% year-on-year improvement, and with an organic growth of 21%. This 21% growth was more or less relating to air defense, but also FMS Optronics, and ESG contributed very nicely with EUR 3.5 million, mainly from the main contract for the German armed forces. In terms of regional contribution, the incoming orders were well balanced between Europe, excluding Germany, accounting for over 40%. This again reflects the rising European defense budgets in our order intake. Revenues reached nearly EUR 1.4 billion, an increase of 21%, also driven here by Sensors, especially the TRML-4D and our baseline business. Pass-through revenue decreased again by 25%, improving revenue quality. Excluding pass-through business, organic revenue grew by 10% in the first nine months of 2024.
ESG delivered as planned with sales of EUR 172 million, and compared with the previous year, our order backlog increased by over EUR 1 billion, resulting in a book-to-bill ratio of 1.3 times. Our financial strength is reflected again in a 24% year-on-year increase in adjusted EBITDA to EUR 187 million, with a robust margin of 14.6% before pass-through revenues. In summary, we are very confident on, I think we are quite good on track to meet our full year guidance for this year for 2024, again demonstrating our robust growth and financial strength. Let's look now ahead for the full year 2024 and our midterm outlook. As announced already in 9M analyst call, we raised our book-to-bill guidance to 1.2 times for the full year, simply driven by the strong order intake dynamics.
We anticipate revenues of around EUR 2.3 billion, year-over-year with core growth, and also the contribution of nine months ESG consolidation. We are targeting an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18% to 19% before pass-through. For adjusted free cash flow, we foresee the conversion of around 50%, and we will reduce our net leverage to equal or below two times with a dividend payout ratio of 30% to 40% of adjusted net income. Going forward, looking at 2025, orders will grow significantly faster than revenue, and sales are set to grow at a low double-digit rate, again with an adjusted EBITDA margin target of 18% to 19% before pass-through revenue.
Cash conversion will be a little bit higher, 50% to 60%, because ESG contributing with six months now with a strong Q1 and net leverage reducing to 1.6 times with a dividend payout ratio, again of 30% to 40% of adjusted net income. In the midterm, we expect further high order intakes. You've seen the market growth, you've seen our strategies, how to come there, and this results then again in an average annual organic growth of 10%. Let's focus now on the margin guidance from your point of view, from the right-hand side. We are raising our midterm target for the adjusted EBITDA margin to around 20% before pass-through revenues, and this is supported especially by the ramp-up of our optronics business in the midterm.
Again, disciplined working capital approach, 50% to 60% cash conversion and maintaining 30% to 40% of net income shared with our shareholders, and we will maintain a conservative financial profile. Last but not least, the development of the adjustment items as guided in half year of this year, 2024, will remain as previously communicated. Now, some aspects, how stable are our plans, how robust they are. A key factor, of course, of the reliability of our guidance is our excellent revenue visibility you can see from the existing orders. Starting with 2025, we see that around 86% of our 2025 revenue guidance is again already secured by existing order backlog. This is quite similar to the last two years, so good visibility. Included here are confirmed orders and short cycle and aftermarket business.
This means in terms of orders that we only need a small portion of orders for next year to achieve our targets in terms of revenues. For 2026, moving on to the next column, we see above 60% of the revenues is backed by orders and assuming a low double-digit percentage sales increase even without new orders. For 2027, we are already backed by 45% of our revenues covered by order backlog. This significant asset, this high visibility is a significant asset in our business model, supporting our strong growth and strong growing order backlog. Now, having a look at ESG, we were talking about the ESG integration and now shading, giving a little bit more color now on the synergies. First of all, we are on very good track for growth and profitability, and we see significant cost and revenue synergies from these acquisitions.
For the enterprise value, the acquisition, we only took into account cost synergies following a conservative approach. We are now very pleased with the ESG business performance. You see the first result end of this year, we will see around EUR 4 million of cost synergies in our books. This is why I expect cost synergies to reach a run rate of EUR 19 million by 2028. Additionally, we have identified significant revenue synergies. I have mentioned some examples in my first part of the speech. While some synergies are already being realized near term, we see very strong potential for further synergies going forward with an overall EBITDA run rate of EUR 19 million by 2028. Let me now give you some more color on the strategy.
Oliver has outlined we drive for 50% in Germany and more regional growth targeting 30% revenue from Europe, excluding Germany and 20% from selected international markets in the midterm. You see at your left-hand side, where do we start? We start, of course, with Germany being currently our largest contributor for our business accounting for 67% of order backlog and nearly 60% of total sales by end of this year. But when we look now at the coming years at our pipeline, the order intake plans, you see in the middle of this chart that the order intake will focus more and more on international and European opportunities while maintaining, of course, the strong position in Germany.
This is why we aim to increase the share of order backlog from international markets to 40% by 2027 and reducing Germany's share to 60% by 2027, as you can see then on your right-hand side. This will also then be reflected in our revenue profile. By 2027, we plan to generate 55% of the sales in Germany, 27% in Europe, and 17% international. This shows our clear path towards a more balanced and more international business profile in the medium and long term. Also having a look at our segments, how do they develop, how do we see it, how do we project them, and you see a sustainable and smooth growth path lies ahead of Hensoldt. Let's start at the bottom. We had many discussions in our analyst calls and our presentations.
Of course, optronics was flat in 2023, and they have kind of reached an inflection point and it's returning to growth in 2024. We will see growth by year-end 2024. We expect the growth momentum to pick up in the following years, boosted by the strong order book and the ramp-up, of course, of Ground-Based Systems business we were talking about today. Revenue growth in Sensors has been very strong, very dynamic in recent years, and we also anticipate further growth to come. Additionally, pass-through revenues will further decline after peaking in 2022, improving further revenue quality. With the ESG, of course, we have expanded our solutions offering and added an attractive financial profile, further accelerating our top-line growth. Last but not least, view on R&D investments.
Of course, you have seen today in this Capital Markets Day that innovation is the core of Hensoldt DNA. This is reflected in our ever-increasing R&D investments since the IPO. We follow a very clear technology roadmap and our product-related business cases to ensure a competitive portfolio that meets our customer needs. Also looking here to optronics, we are leading that transition to digitalization, focusing on next-generation land platforms and converting from analog to digital systems. Our investments are funded both self-funded internally, but also customer-funded development. In terms of self-funded development, we invest approximately 5% of the revenue in R&D. Here what you see, what happened to customer-funded R&D, I remembered quite well that during the IPO, we were at around 8%. We expect now, driven also by programs, I will come to that to reach around 15% by 2025.
A constant improvement and increase of customer-funded R&D. This is driven, of course, by key projects like Eurofighter Mk1 like Pegasus, but also with NNbS, a contract which we booked in Q1, and also FCAS, where we lead the German industrial consortium to develop the sensor and effector network. This includes, at the end of the day, seamless interconnection across Sensors and platforms, key elements of multi-domain operations. Moving on to capital allocation framework, and this remains quite constant since the last Capital Markets Day, and I want to focus on three main aspects. The first aspect is fueling the growth, and our main focus stays to drive our transition towards Hensoldt 2.0, supporting the upcoming growth through investments in our workforce. Last talked about it, technology and IT systems. Second, sharing the growth.
We aim to share the growth with our shareholders by dividends, maintaining this payout ratio of 30% to 40% of adjusted net income for 2024 and the medium term. Last but not least, strategic acquisitions. As a national champion, we want to play an active role in European consolidation, and we will consider acquisitions that make strategic and economic sense, gaining access to the relevant technologies or growth markets, as Oliver has told us. Our financial policy in this regard remains with a clear view on value-accretive M&A. Last but not least, we are adhering to our conservative financial debt profile and medium-term dividend payout guidance. With that, having shown you how to fund all these ideas from last, I hand over now to you back, Oliver, for closing remarks.
Thank you very much, Christian. Before we come to a close, dear investors, analysts, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to give a couple of personal remarks. My first year with Hensoldt was one of the richest experiences in all of my professional career. Despite many achievements, insights, and really a lot of highlights, I think one thing is really striking out, and that is that the Hensoldt team is truly one of a kind. I'm deeply impressed by the professionalism on one hand, but also the passion that our Hensoldt employees show every day. The purpose-driven commitment to make it happen, to deliver to our customers and pay our share to making this world a safer place is really striking.
The work with my colleagues on the executive management team, the management board, but with all Hensoldt employees I had the privilege to work with is really striking, and I would like to take the opportunity to thank you, Christian and Lars. It's really a great honor and for me a true privilege to work with you every day. I think we really rock the show together with all the Hensoldtians. As I stand now in front of you today, I can say that my blood has turned green like we see it on the sides, and I can say that really with conviction. I'm very determined, and I hope you realize that throughout the presentation to lead this great team into a bright future.
Well, let me now conclude our capital market day presentation as we also approach the Q&A, and I would like to summarize four key messages. We have a strong order book. This is, to me, the solid fundament on which we build our Hensoldt for the future. It provides us with excellent visibility. Second, we are proud of a unique positioning, and I hope with North Star, with what we've presented to you, we have a clear vision and an actionable, and that's important. Walk the talk is one of the things I love to say also to my team. We have an actionable roadmap for our Hensoldt 2.0. Third, we are most confident about the growth plan to continue this successful growth that we have shown since 2017, since the carve-out, since the IPO.
Our continued focus, Christian made it clear on profitability and cash generation really supports rewarding dividends. It helps us to invest in technology, which is more important than ever, and it helps us to go into value-accretive acquisitions. Last but not least, I am as a software engineer with all what I've gone through in my professional career, we are passionate about innovation. Innovation is part of our Hensoldt DNA, and we are ready, we are capable, we are committed to pioneer software defense for the sake of bringing value to our customers, but also bringing value to our capital market. But also importantly, we showed it clearly, leading our team and bringing value to our most precious workforce. We will complement as we go forward our edge Sensors products with a comprehensive solution capability and a diversified spectrum of services.
Dear investors, analysts, ladies and gentlemen, with North Star, the course is set. All of that secures for Hensoldt, for the team, differentiation and competitiveness. It secures resilience and sustainable growth, as well as agility and digital innovation, which is more important than ever, thus allowing us to master our future in a most dynamic market environment. Together with Christian and Lars, as well as with all Hensoldtians, I can say that very clearly, we are capable and ready to deliver the next chapter of our Hensoldt success story. I would like to take that opportunity also to thank the team, Veronika, and all the ones in the back for making this great event happen. Thanks to you for joining us, and thanks for your attention. Now we are ready to take your questions. Thank you very much.