EU Approves €1bn for Defense Research

The European Commission on Thursday, January 30, adopted the fifth annual Work Programme under the European Defense Fund, which provides more than €1 billion for joint defense research and development. The statement of the European Commission says, eurointegration.com.ua writes. Approved by the EU executive, the European Defense Fund’s 2025 Work Programme provides “significant additional funding to support the development of critical defense technologies and capabilities, and facilities”, it said. Moerover, around €100 million will be allocated to each of the important areas of land warfare, space, air and maritime warfare, as well as energy sustainability and environmental transition. In addition, more than €40 million of EU funding is allocated to R&D in critical areas of current and future operational context, such as cyber, naval warfare, underwater warfare, modelling and training, advanced passive and active sensors. Funding will be awarded to projects based on applications that can be submitted between mid-February and 16 October 2025. Recall that the European Defense Fund, established in 2017, is an instrument of the European Commission to support joint defense research and development. For the period 2021-2027, the total budget of the Fund is approximately €7.3 billion. Taking into account the latest decision of the European Commission, €5.4 billion has already been allocated under the European Defense Fund. Recently, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis proposed the creation of a European defense fund of at least €100 billion, modelled on the European Pandemic Response Fund.