Peace campaigners are to stage a demonstration outside the Science Museum in London on Saturday afternoon in protest at sponsorship by Airbus, the aerospace firm, which sells weapons to a number of regimes implicated in human rights abuses.

Airbus, the world’s seventh biggest arms manufacturer, is funding the museum’s new Leonardo da Vinci exhibition, The Mechanics of Genius.

From 2pm, activists linked to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) will gather outside the Science Museum in South Kensington to raise public awareness of the role played by Airbus in the Yemen conflict.

Philip McMahon, a member of the CAAT’s London branch, said: “Arms companies like Airbus use public institutions such as the Science Museum to gain legitimacy, and distract from their otherwise abhorrent business practices.

“We want the Science Museum to end its relationship with Airbus, and create an ethical sponsorship policy to prevent any future sponsorship by weapons companies.”

As part of the Eurofighter consortium, Airbus makes and maintains fighter jets used by Saudi Arabia in its war in Yemen. The firm also has a stake in Bedford-based MBDA, which in recent years has supplied 450 Storm Shadow cruise missiles and 1,000 Brimstone air-to-surface missiles to the Saudi regime.

According to a UN panel, Saudi forces have conducted “widespread and systematic” attacks on civilian targets, including refugee camps, schools, hospitals and residential areas. Even after that damning assessment, and a call from MPs to stop the sale of British arms to Saudi Arabia, David Cameron boasted of his efforts to help sell “brilliant things” such as Eurofighter Typhoons to the country.

Other Airbus clients include the United Arab Emirates, part of the Saudi-led coalition bombarding Yemen, and Kazakhstan, a strategically located dictatorship whose leader last year extended his 25-year rule after winning an election with 97.7% of the popular vote.

The Airbus sponsorship deal is not the first time that the Science Museum has worked with arms companies. In 2014, it hosted a reception for arms dealers and buyers as part of the Farnborough airshow – an annual event described by peace campaigners as “like Glastonbury for arms dealers”. Boeing, United Technologies, Rolls Royce and Boeing have also held events there.

Other UK institutions that have hosted events for arms manufacturers include the Barbican Centre, Edinburgh Castle, the Tower of London, the Imperial War Museum, the London Transport Museum and the Natural History Museum.

The Imperial War Museum, which often holds exhibitions highlighting the horrors of war, accepts sponsorship from BAE Systems, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin, the world’s biggest arms maker.

The National Gallery ended its sponsorship deal with Finmeccanica in 2012, a year early, after a campaign by CAAT. It was also forced to drop a reception linked to the Farnborough airshow after a public outcry over an event for attendees at the Defence Systems and Equipment International arms fair in 2011.

The Science Museum protest comes ahead of International Conscientious Objectors Day on Sunday. The Peace Pledge Union is urging people to mark the day by challenging militarist values and attitudes in everyday life, such as military visits to schools and army recruitment adverts aimed at vulnerable teenagers.

Symon Hill, coordinator of the Peace Pledge Union, said: “A hundred years ago, conscientious objectors were imprisoned in horrifying conditions for taking a stand against war. Today, in countries around the world, hundreds of people remain in prison for refusing to fight.

“In Britain, our bodies are no longer conscripted. But our taxes are conscripted to pay for the fifth-highest military budget in the world. Our minds are conscripted as we are taught from an early age that violence is the solution to conflict and that unquestioning obedience is something to be admired. Even our language is conscripted, with preparations for war described inaccurately as ‘defence’ and ‘security’.

“As everyday militarism becomes more and more visible, we need to resist it with everyday objection.”