Council names five European defence projects of common interest

The Council of the European Union has identified five European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCIs) under the EDIP Regulation, opening the way to joint procurement and industrial ramp-up in drones, maritime defence, space, air and missile defence and the eastern flank. The decision was adopted on 28 September 2026 and published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 1 October 2026 as Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2221.

The legal basis is Regulation (EU) 2025/2643 of 16 December 2025, which established the European Defence Industry Programme and a framework of measures to ensure the timely availability and supply of defence products. Under Article 35 of that regulation, the European Commission launched a call for expressions of interest on 16 February 2026; by the deadline of 29 May 2026, Member States had submitted nine project proposals. The Commission, drawing on expertise from the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and the European Defence Agency, verified compliance with the Article 35(2) criteria and proposed five projects, which the Council agreed to identify. The decision was signed in Brussels by the Council President, K. Kallas, and enters into force on 2 October 2026, the day after its publication.

The five projects and their budgets

The annex sets an estimated overall financial size for each project, with target horizons running from 2032 to 2045:

• DECODER (Drone and Counter-Drone European Resolve): EUR 3 500 000 000 to 5 000 000 000 by 2033.
• IMSD (Integrated Maritime and Seabed Defence): EUR 43 000 000 000 to 72 000 000 000 by 2045.
• SPACE: up to EUR 24 000 000 000 by 2034.
• EU-FIAMD (EU Federated Integrated Air and Missile Defence including Early Warning): EUR 55 000 000 000 to 80 000 000 000 by 2040.
• EFW (Eastern Flank Watch): EUR 8 500 000 000 to 10 000 000 000 by 2032; the annex also records a further line of up to EUR 100 000 000 000 by 2036.

DECODER: drones, counter-drones and 26 member states

DECODER is the flagship unmanned systems programme. It aims to enable coordinated development, scaling and deployment of European unmanned and counter-unmanned capabilities, giving armed forces modern, adaptable, scalable and interoperable drone and counter-drone systems operating across all domains. It is to support joint procurement, expand industrial production capacity, develop new and upgrade existing solutions, and establish a European Network of Drone Technology Hubs for testing and rapid force modernisation.

Twenty-six Member States participate, alongside Norway and Ukraine:

• Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Hungary, Netherlands, Austria, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and Ukraine.

The other projects follow the same logic. IMSD builds a federated maritime and seabed defence architecture around maritime domain awareness, naval combat and maritime interdiction, and underwater and seabed warfare, protecting ports, offshore installations, cables and pipelines. SPACE covers space-based early warning, satellite communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, space domain awareness, positioning, navigation and timing, navigation warfare and responsive space systems. EU-FIAMD targets a common integrated air and missile defence architecture aligned with NATO frameworks, and EFW concentrates on six capability pillars: ground combat, drone defence, C4ISTAR, counter-mobility, military mobility, and air and missile defence.

Joint procurement, observers and a second call

All five projects rest on common procurement of defence products, services and infrastructure, and on expanding relevant production capacity. Under Regulation (EU) 2025/2643, the Commission may participate in the listed projects where relevant, and participating Member States may decide to involve the High Representative and the European Defence Agency as observers.

The Council agreed to the identification on the understanding that the Commission intends to assess regularly whether further projects qualify and to launch a second call for expressions of interest before the end of April 2027.

The decision matters because it converts the EDIP framework into named, funded programmes with defined country lists and spending horizons, giving industry a multi-year signal for capacity investment and giving participating states a structured route to joint orders. It also anchors Ukraine and Norway inside European defence industrial cooperation, while the scale of the maritime, air and missile defence and space envelopes shows where the bulk of the money is expected to flow.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, No 2026/2221, 1 October 2026, p. 1-5 (official reference: Council Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/2221; ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec_impl/2026/2221/oj).