EU allocates almost a billion euros for new defense projects

The European Commission will allocate 910 million euros to dozens of defense projects in the European Union, Norway and Ukraine. Ukrainian companies are participating in the European Defense Fund program for the first time, writes dw.com.

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The European Commission is investing €910 million in 62 projects under the European Defense Fund program, which is open not only to EU member states and Norway, but also, for the first time, to Ukraine. The European Commission's press service reported this on Wednesday, April 30.

The investments are aimed at addressing key gaps in European defense capabilities, such as troop mobility and drone defense.

A Ukrainian project was selected

In total, almost 300 applications were submitted to the competition. The selected projects included the Ukrainian Small UAS, aimed at developing the latest aerosystems controlled by artificial intelligence (AI).

The Small UAS project includes two Ukrainian companies as associated partners. In addition, Ukrainian subcontractors may be added during the preparation of the grant agreement, the European Commission explained to DW.

Nine projects are dedicated to creating breakthrough technologies, such as the METASTEALTH project, which is developing a new generation of stealth materials. Other examples include the ENGRTII project, which brings together over 45 industrial companies and research centres to develop a next-generation European helicopter by 2030. Another project, EUROSWEEP, is creating a single autonomous European mine-sweeping system.

In addition, major projects in other categories, such as protection against weapons of mass destruction, protection of soldiers, underwater warfare, as well as in the fields of AI, quantum technologies, cybernetics, will be funded. In addition, a classified project to counter hypersonic glide vehicles has been selected with a budget of 78 million euros.

"The selected proposals support the development of critical capabilities, such as air and missile defence systems and unmanned aerial vehicles, which will enable European armed forces to respond to emerging threats and protect our citizens, whether by strengthening our collective defence or by supporting our partners, such as Ukraine, in their efforts to defend against foreign aggression," said Andrius Kubilius, European Commissioner for Defence and Space.

These investments from the European Defence Fund aim to develop the European defence industry in line with the European Commission's Rearmament 2030 roadmap and the Defence White Paper. With the new allocations, the total EU funding for joint defence research and development will exceed €2021 billion from XNUMX.

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