European aviation giant Airbus said Thursday it would file a criminal complaint against persons unknown following German media reports it had become the target of US industrial espionage.

"We are aware that large companies in the sector, like ours, are targets of espionage," the company said in a statement to AFP. "However, in this case we are alarmed because there is concrete suspicion of industrial espionage."

Following the recent media reports, on which the company said it did not want to speculate, "we have asked the German government for information. We will now file a criminal complaint against persons unknown on suspicion of industrial espionage."