LUCA ZORLONI
From €142 million to €1 billion ($1.1 billion) a year. The European Commission is pressing the accelerator on investment in weapons and defense technologies. From a total €590 million invested between 2017 and 2020, Brussels has moved to a €7.3 billion ($7.9 billion) package for the 2021 to 2027 period. This year alone, the European Defense Fund (EDF) has put €1.1 billion on the plate, divided into 34 calls for as many military-related research topics. From developing new drone models to sensors to increase radar capabilities. From systems to counter hypersonic missile attacks to enhancements in the analysis of images collected by satellites. From “smart weapons” to advanced communication technologies. The bidding process opened in late June, and there is time until November 5 to share a slice of the pie—and then a year to deliver the project.
The project for a common defense has distant origins and was formalized in 2015, but it was Russia's invasion of Ukraine that accelerated the European Commission's march to spend on arms, ammunition, and military technology. One only has to scroll through the list of projects vying for 2024 funding to get an idea of what Brussels is looking for. On the plate is €100 million to develop a new long-range, medium-altitude drone equipped with advanced intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and recognition systems (or Istar) and piloted remotely. On a similar project, the European Union has already invested, allocating €98 million of the total €290 million needed to develop a similar aircraft, dubbed Eurodrone, to a consortium consisting of France's Airbus and Dassault Aviation plus Italy's Leonardo. Another €11 million from the EDF goes to the prototype of a small, autonomously guided aerial drone.
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