Brussels – Start at a fast pace, right away — that is, by March 2026 — to equip the European Union with an industrial defense capacity capable of meeting current and future challenges. The EU Commission is breaking the deadlock, setting out a fast-track roadmap to build the kind of military integration that has so far been lacking. The roadmap presented today, which will be on the table of the heads of state and government as early as next week’s summit (October 23), specifies one thing: it is about industrial projects and production capacity, since NATO will manage everything concerning the operational phase.
The nine priority areas and consortia of states, starting in 2026
The communication to the Member States takes a cue from White Paper on Defence, confirming the areas of strategic interest on which delays need to be bridged, namely air and missile defense systems, drones and anti-drone systems, advanced artillery systems (including high-precision and long-range missiles), munitions, information systems and artificial intelligence, land, sea and air combat capabilities, and military mobility. For each of these nine areas, the Commission wants to set up capability coalitions with lead nations by the first quarter of 2026, so that each group of EU Member States can collect industrial capability data and initiate projects by the first half of 2026, and organize at least 40 percent of defense procurement as joint procurement by the end of 2027. Contracts and financing will have to be secured by 2028.
Under the leadership of the Member States, the European Defence Agency (EDA) will play a central role in facilitating the coalition process, in particular through Capability Panels. Cooperation between member states and the EDA aims to ensure the link between the analysis of military capability shortfalls and priority capability areas for acquisition and development.
The four flagship initiatives
To act quickly where a joint approach is most effective, the Defence Roadmap proposes four initial European flagship initiatives: the European Drone Defence Initiative, the Eastern Flank Watch, the European Air Shield, and the European Space Shield. Here, the timetable proposed by the European Commission envisages that by the end of this year the green light of the heads of state and government for the anti-drone wall and the Eastern flank initiative, to launch the two flagship initiatives by the end of the first quarter of 2026 and be fully operational by the end of 2027 and by the end of 2028, respectively. By March 2026, the SAFE framework will also facilitate the first pre-financing payments for projects within the flagship initiatives. Additionally, the first calls for joint procurement will be issued under the EDIP, the defense industry program.
https://www.eunews.it/en/2025/10/01/security-meloni-to-eu-leaders-there-is-also-a-southern-flank/
This does not mean that other flagship initiatives should be left aside. On the contrary, the communication states, although the Eastern Flank and the anti-drone wall are the “most urgent” of the four, “work should accelerate to develop a European Air Shield” to achieve integrated, multi-layered air and missile protection for member states, fully interoperable with the NATO command and control system. The target to activate the Air Shield, as well as the Space Shield, is the second quarter of 2026. For the latter, the Commission urges to start work “from 2026.”
Initiatives for work, skills, and the business world
Military mobility and the roadmap for Ukraine
