What's in the Commission's Defence Readiness Roadmap

The European Commission aims to launch defence projects across all its priority areas by the first half of 2026, beginning with the Eastern Flank Watch and a Drone Wall, according to a draft document seen by Euractiv. No new funding is proposed.

The 16-page document seen by Euractiv lists priorities for EU countries to follow to achieve war-readiness by 2030, as initially pitched in the March White Paper. The official Readiness Roadmap is expected to be published on Thursday, 16 October.

The Roadmap lists the creation of four flagship projects as a priority: Eastern Flank Watch, European Drone Wall, European Air Shield, and European Defence Space Shield. On top of that, the Commission lists a range of ideas to improve the continent’s war-readiness, such as securing the supply of raw materials, improving military mobility, better connecting deep tech companies with defence, and supporting Ukraine’s industry with joint ventures in the EU.

Among the most important goals is that EU countries organise at least 40% of their defence purchases as joint procurement by the end of 2027, a more ambitious goal than the one set by the 2023 European Defence Industry Strategy, which aimed for 2030.

At the top of the list, the Commission writes that EU leaders must support the creation of an Eastern Flank Watch as a priority by the end of the year, which includes a European Drone Wall.

The Drone Wall’s “initial capacity” should be in place “by end 2026” and fully functional and integrated within a network-based drone capability by the end of 2027. The Eastern Flank Watch should be “functional by end 2028.” The Drone Wall’s timeline was first reported by Bloomberg.

To make it a reality, the Commission aims to use the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) to scale production and common procurement, and wants EU countries to start using the €150 billion SAFE defence loans in the first quarter of 2026.

On top of that, “work should accelerate” to develop a European Air Shield to “achieve an integrated, multi-layered air and missile defence protection” that is fully interoperable with NATO’s command and control (C2) system, the document states. It does not mention the creation of an EU-made C2.

The European Defence Space Shield should “ensure the protection and resilience of space assets and services.”

All priority projects in all priority areas should be launched in the first half of 2026, the EU executive also stated. Coalitions of EU countries are expected to lead and co-lead those projects early next year.

The Commission does not propose any brand-new funding options. It only plans on creating a €1 billion fund via equity with the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund to “support the fast growth of defence-related scale-ups and defence related projects by end 2025.” Otherwise, it relies on the future EU seven-year budget kicking off in 2028 and disbursing “at least 50%” of SAFE loans “by March 2028.”

Altogether, the draft Roadmap lists dozens of “milestones” including:

• Support to Ukraine with a strategy to “facilitate joint ventures and the establishment of Ukrainian industry in the Single Market (‘red carpet’) by mid-2026,”
• Securing raw material supplies for the defence industry based on risk analyses,
• New Tech Alliances for Defence to link tech innovators with EU countries,
• The Commission providing analysis for supply chain risks,
• The Commission providing an overview of the industrial capacity ramp-up needed to ensure reliable supply next year
• Work towards “a true EU-wide market for defence equipment,” with an “evaluation” of Public procurement and
  intra-EU Transfers Directives by the end of 2026, 
• Set up “an EU-wide military mobility area,”
• Update its competition and State aid frameworks to “help foster greater defence industrial cooperation between Member States”

The document does not provide detailed steps or projects on achieving those goals.

It does however plan for strict monitoring, with an Annual Defence Readiness Report, as already pitched earlier this month.

(cp, cm)