On 19 March 2019 the EU announced up to €500 million in funding for defence projects, including the development of a ‘Eurodrone’. The European Commission, the bloc's executive, said €100 million was earmarked for the proposed drone as the bloc seeks to reduce its dependency on US technology.
Brussels is stepping up efforts to rationalise Europe's spending on new military equipment to make it more cost-effective and reduce waste.
‘With the EU investments we are launching today, we are going from ideas to concrete projects, we are strengthening the competitiveness of our defence industries,’ Industry Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkowska said.
The commission will soon invite proposals for projects in five priority areas, with over €180 million on offer for intelligence, secure communications and cyber and €5.7 million for AI-enabled defence technology.
‘Cooperation in defence is the only way to protect and defend Europeans in an increasingly instable world," commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said. ‘Joint projects are materialising. European Defence is happening.’
The commission has proposed a budget of €13 billion for defence for the period from 2021 to 2027.
Any potential ‘Arctic Sentry’ mission would be months in the planning, but with tensions high in the region given the US’s push for Greenland, NATO countries will need to continue to emphasise their commitment to the region, analysts have said.
Defence Minister Gen Vladimir Padrino López has declared that the Venezuelan armed forces “will continue to employ all its available capabilities for military defence”.
The UK’s defence spending commitments remain uncertain as the government’s Defence Investment Plan, which had been due by the end of 2025, is yet to be published.
Disruption of infrastructure in Europe, whether by cyberattack, physical damage to pipelines or uncrewed aerial vehicles flying over major airports, as has happened more recently, is on the rise. What is the most effective way of countering the aerial aspect of this not-so-open warfare?
The US State Department’s approval of a multi-billion-dollar sale of weapons to Taiwan includes tactical mission networks equipment, uncrewed aerial systems, artillery rocket systems and self-propelled howitzers as well as anti-tank guided missiles.
Ireland’s multi-annual investment in capital defence spending is set to rise from €300m in 2026 to €360m in 2029–2030 with major upgrades across land, air, maritime and cyber domains.
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