EU nails down five defense priority areas to channel common spending

PARIS — European Union member states approved five projects for joint defense-industrial investment in priority areas including drones and counter-drone systems as well as air and missile defense, part of efforts to encourage more cooperation on defense spending and avoid overlap in the 27-nation bloc.

The five projects approved on Monday are now eligible for EU funding via the €1.5 billion (US$1.7 billion) European Defence Industry Program, the Council of the EU, which acts as the bloc’s co-legislator, said in a statement . The other selected projects are in the areas of maritime and seabed defense, space, and protection of Europe’s eastern flank.

The European Commission has allocated €325 million for European defense projects of common interest, or EDPCIs in EU lingo, as part of EDIP. While the commission has been pushing to reduce fragmentation in Europe’s defense industry, cooperation between member states has been challenging due to competing industrial interests, illustrated by the recent breakdown of a French-German project to develop a sixth-generation fighter jet.

“These pan-European projects will make a difference for our EU member states’ armed forces, for Ukraine and for our security as a whole,” European Commissioner for Defence Andrius Kubilius said in a post on the social-media network X , formerly Twitter.

He called the approval of the five projects of common interest a “major breakthrough” that will close critical capability gaps in the EU, with an “envisaged funding ambition” of around €190 billion by 2036.

The EDPCIs are large-scale projects that give member states a framework to cooperate on major defense initiatives that would be too large or complex for individual countries to tackle on their own, according to the commission. The projects are designed to extend beyond the current EDIP funding period, which runs through 2027.

The EU’s executive arm will now work with member states to implement the projects and monitor their progress, and also expects to provide financial support, it said in a separate statement on Monday. On average, 18 EU countries participate in each project, with Ukraine part of four of the five projects, the commission said.

The project on drone and counter-drone defense, with the acronym Decoder, unites most EU member states as well as Norway and Ukraine, according to a commission fact sheet . The indicative overall investment is in the range of €3.5 billion to €5 billion by 2033.

The integrated maritime and seabed defense project, or IMSD, has an indicated investment envelope of €43 billion to €72 billion by 2045, while indicative overall spending under consideration for the space project amounts to €24 billion by 2034.

Investment in the EU Federated Air and Missile Defence project, or EU-FIAMD, which includes an early warning element, could be anywhere between €55 billion and €80 billion by 2040, according to the commission fact sheet .

The Eastern Flank Watch project , which aims to strengthen security on the EU’s eastern border through “a comprehensive multi-domain effort,” with participation from 12 EU members as well as Norway and Ukraine, is indicated to result in between €60 billion and €100 billion of investments by 2036.

Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Defense News. He started his career at Bloomberg News and has experience reporting on technology, commodity markets and politics.

巴黎——欧盟成员国批准了五个联合国防工业投资项目，重点领域包括无人机和反无人机系统以及防空和导弹防御，这是鼓励加强国防开支合作、避免27个成员国之间出现重叠的努力的一部分。

欧盟理事会（欧盟的共同立法机构）在一份声明中表示，周一获批的五个项目现在有资格通过15亿欧元（17亿美元）的欧洲防务工业计划获得欧盟资金。其他入选项目涉及海上和海底防御、太空以及欧洲东翼保护等领域。

作为欧洲防务投资计划 (EDIP) 的一部分，欧盟委员会已拨款 3.25 亿欧元用于欧洲共同利益防务项目（欧盟术语为 EDPCI）。尽管欧盟委员会一直致力于减少欧洲防务行业的碎片化，但由于成员国之间存在利益冲突，合作仍然面临挑战，近期法德合作研发第六代战斗机的项目破裂便印证了这一点。

“这些泛欧项目将对我们欧盟成员国的武装部队、乌克兰以及我们整体的安全产生影响，”欧盟国防事务专员安德留斯·库比留斯在社交媒体网络 X（前身为 Twitter）上发帖称。

他称批准这五个共同利益项目是一项“重大突破”，这将弥补欧盟的关键能力差距，预计到 2036 年，其“预期资金目标”将达到约 1900 亿欧元。

据欧盟委员会称，欧洲防务发展合作计划（EDPCIs）是大型项目，旨在为成员国提供一个框架，使其能够在规模过大或过于复杂、单个国家难以独自应对的重大防务举措上开展合作。这些项目的设计目标是在当前的欧洲防务发展计划（EDIP）资助期结束后继续实施，该计划的资助期将于2027年结束。

欧盟执行机构周一在一份单独声明中表示，将与成员国合作实施这些项目并监督其进展，并预计将提供财政支持。欧盟委员会称，平均每个项目有18个欧盟成员国参与，其中乌克兰参与了五个项目中的四个。

根据欧盟委员会的情况说明书，代号为“解码器”（Decoder）的无人机和反无人机防御项目汇集了大多数欧盟成员国以及挪威和乌克兰。该项目预计到2033年将投入35亿至50亿欧元。

到 2045 年，综合海洋和海底防御项目 (IMSD) 的指示性投资额为 430 亿欧元至 720 亿欧元，而到 2034 年，太空项目的指示性总支出预计为 240 亿欧元。

根据欧盟委员会的情况说明书，到 2040 年，欧盟联合防空和导弹防御项目（EU-FIAMD，包含预警要素）的投资额可能在 550 亿欧元到 800 亿欧元之间。

“东翼观察”项目旨在通过“一项全面的多领域努力”加强欧盟东部边界的安全，该项目由12个欧盟成员国以及挪威和乌克兰参与，预计到2036年将带来600亿欧元至1000亿欧元的投资。

鲁迪·鲁伊滕贝格是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者。他的职业生涯始于彭博新闻社，拥有报道科技、大宗商品市场和政治方面的经验。