It announced today that it has financed, for the first time, a common arms market on behalf of EU countries, most of which are destined for .
Specifically, the Commission approved the financing of five cross-border projects, amounting to 300 million. euros, to support joint procurement of defense products by Member States in three critical areas: air defense and missile defense systems, modern armored vehicles and ammunition.
The five selected projects represent a combined value of public contracts in excess of 11 billion. euros, which demonstrates the high leverage of EU funding. According to the Commission, the investments amounting to 300 million EDIRPA’s €100 million have provided 36 times greater commitment incentives, demonstrating the program’s effectiveness in driving significant defense investment across the EU.
“This is the first time that we have used the EU budget to support member states in the joint procurement of defense products,” underlined Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager. “This will enable better use of resources for national defense budgets, improve the interoperability of European armed forces, strengthen our industry and better prepare Europe to face defense threats,” he added.
The selected EDIRPA projects involve 20 Member States, some of which will be participating for the first time in joint defense procurement projects. This reflects EDIRPA’s role in encouraging cooperation between Member States to address critical capability gaps, particularly those related to the transfer of defense equipment to Ukraine.
Most of the selected projects involve the supply of defense products destined for Ukraine, including air defense and missile defense systems and ammunition, strengthening the country’s defense capabilities in the face of the ongoing Russian offensive.
The selection of EDIRPA projects comes in response to calls for proposals launched by the Commission in March 2024. With the adoption of EDIRPA and its subsequent implementation through the work programme, and the launch of the corresponding calls for proposals, the EU encourages for first time for Member States and Norway to acquire common defense products, serving the most urgent and critical needs, especially those reinforced by the attack of Russia against Ukraine. The concentration of demand provides predictability and therefore encourages industry to increase production capacity and improve the interoperability of national armed forces.
The EDIRPA work program supports joint procurement in three areas:
- Ammunition,
- Air and missile defense, and
- Platforms and replacement of legacy systems.
The EDIRPA program is a short-term instrument approved after Russia’s attack on Ukraine and is expected to last until 2025 to incentivize cooperation on the most urgent defense products.
