EU sets up AGILE defence innovation programme with 115 million euros

The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have established the Programme for agile and rapid defence innovation (AGILE), a one-year instrument with an indicative EUR 115 million budget aimed at moving low-cost defence technology from small firms to armed forces faster. Regulation (EU) 2026/2387, adopted in Strasbourg on 21 October 2026, is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ L, 2026/2387) of 3 November 2026, and entered into force on 4 November 2026, the day after publication.

The regulation is based on Article 173(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and was adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure, after the European Parliament’s position of 6 October 2026 and the Council’s decision of 12 October 2026. Its preamble frames the programme as a response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and to the pressure on the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), noting that the European Defence Fund carries EUR 7.3 billion for 2021-2027 and that its SME window, the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS), absorbs around 20 % of the budget committed each year.

A one-year envelope of 115 million euros

Article 4 sets an indicative financial envelope of EUR 115 000 000 in current prices for the period from 1 January to 31 December 2027. The programme may finance up to 100 % of eligible costs, grants are to take the form of lump sums or simplified cost options wherever possible, and costs incurred up to three months before the closure of a call may be reimbursed.

Member States, Union institutions and bodies, third countries, international organisations and other third parties may add financial or non-financial contributions, and cohesion funds allocated to a Member State may be transferred to the programme at its request.

Only SMEs, only from the Union

Recipients must be small and medium-sized enterprises established in a Member State or an associated third country, with their executive management located there and no control by a non-associated third country; facilities must sit on Union or associated territory for the whole action. European Free Trade Association members in the European Economic Area and Ukraine may join as associated third countries, with Ukraine exempted from financial contribution.

Article 10 lists the actions eligible for funding:

• rapid development of emerging and disruptive defence products and their components, including adaptation of civil dual-use technologies;
• market uptake, demand aggregation, iterative field testing and demonstrations with end users, including matchmaking;
• relocation of an entity or its executive management into the Union or an associated third country;
• support services such as qualification, certification, access to infrastructure and manufacturing capacity, investment readiness, skills, studies and ecosystem-building.

Actions already fully financed elsewhere, products prohibited by international law, cluster munitions and lethal autonomous weapons without meaningful human control over strike decisions are excluded.

Fast-track awards and a two-stage route

The Commission may run accelerated and simplified award procedures in which the award decision rests on a preliminary assessment and applicants’ declarations on honour, with the final evaluation completed within four months of the application deadline and payments released only afterwards. The work programme may also set up two-stage bottom-up calls in which the budget instrument is chosen after selection, and an “inducement intervention” that temporarily suspends establishment criteria for promising foreign SMEs, with no pre-financing and support for relocation costs.

The Commission adopts the work programme and award decisions through implementing acts, assisted by a committee under Regulation (EU) No 182/2011, with the European Defence Agency and the European External Action Service attending as observers.

Amendments to existing rules

Article 19 adds Regulation (EU) 2026/2387 to the programmes whose calls can earn a Sovereignty Seal under the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform, set up by Regulation (EU) 2024/795, opening the door to cumulative national or EU funding for the same project. Article 20 aligns Regulation (EU) 2026/467 on the Ukraine Support Loan, so that manufacturers meeting AGILE eligibility conditions are deemed to meet that regulation’s conditions.

The text also provides that national procurement of a defence product stemming from a supported action counts as a contract under a cooperative research and development programme, benefiting from the exclusion in Directive 2009/81/EC. The Commission must deliver an evaluation report to the European Parliament and the Council by 1 July 2028.

The programme matters well beyond its size: with short award timelines, full cost coverage and a legal bridge into STEP and national procurement, it turns the EU budget into a fast channel for start-ups and scale-ups that previously struggled to cross the gap between a working prototype and an operational order.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union (OJ L), No 2026/2387, 3 November 2026, legislation (official reference: Regulation (EU) 2026/2387).