Watch CNBC's full interview with Thales Chairman and CEO Patrice Caine

Hello. We're taking you away from our programming for an exclusive interview with Thales CEO Patrice Caine. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has announced 150 billion euros in fresh loans to fund defense investment as part of plans that could mobilize close to 800 billion euros. Von der Leyen also announced changes to budget rules allowing cohesion funds to be used on defense and said the European Investment Bank would work to mobilize private capital. Von der Leyen said that there is a strong consensus among members that the bloc needs to step up. In the various meetings in the last few weeks, most recently two days ago in London, the answer from European capitals has been as resounding as it is clear: we are in an era of rearmament and Europe is ready to massively boost its defense spending both to respond to the short-term urgency to support Ukraine but also to address the long-term need to take on more responsibility for our own European security. Thales reported better than expected 8.3% growth in full year sales. The French defense giant says it expects increased profitability this year, boosted by higher defense spending and recovering air traffic. I'm very pleased to say that I'm now joined for an exclusive conversation with Patrice Caine, the CEO of Thales. Sir, thank you so much for joining us. Can I just very firstly take your take on this breaking news with Ursula von der Leyen and these announcements around boosting EU armament? What do you make of these announcements this morning and what do they mean for your business?

And that seemed to be one of the key messages this morning. You're saying we have to wait and see whether all these political pledges that we hear lately, particularly from European leaders given the geopolitical situation, whether this turns into actual orders for us down the line.

Yet we see there are still some hurdles beyond that political will that you say might take a couple of years before that translates into orders. I would like to ask you about the supply chain. There's still some bottlenecks on that front. I want to ask you about chips, specific raw materials, and where you source them from, particularly from China. Can you just give a bit of color on how the supply chain looks and how difficult it might be to boost your production?

And given the latest results that we had on tariffs, where the latest announcement seems that we might be entering a tit-for-tat trade war potentially, so what does that mean potentially for your business, for the supply chain, and just for potential input costs for you?

Another hurdle for European defense is its fragmentation compared to, for example, the US where you have fewer players. How do you see things going forward? Do you see individual countries in Europe willing to give up potentially that champion? Maybe France giving up Thales for a merger with another country in Europe?