On Thursday, 14 November, the European Commission announced that it had approved funding for five cross-border projects to support more coordinated and effective defence procurement among EU Member States.
Each project implemented under the European Defence Industry Reinforcement through Common Procurement Act (EDIRPA) will receive €60 million.
The selected projects, in which 20 Member States are participating, focus on three areas. Two projects will strengthen joint air and missile defence capabilities: the ‘MISTRAL’ project, which supports common procurement of Mistral very short-range air defence systems by nine Member States (France, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Spain, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, and Denmark), and the ‘JAMIE’ (Joint Air Missile Defence Initiative in Europe) project, which is expected to lead to common procurement of IRIS-T SLM medium-range air defence systems by six Member States (Germany, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Austria, Estonia, and Latvia).
Four Member States (Finland, Latvia, Sweden, and Denmark) have a project that involves acquiring the Common Armoured Vehicle System (CAVS).
Finally, two projects are related to common procurement of different types of 155-mm artillery ammunition: the ‘CPoA 155mm’ project involving six Member States (the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Latvia, Denmark, and Hungary) and the ‘HE 155mm’ project by four Member States (Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Estonia).
In its press release, the European Commission explained that most of the projects selected also include procuring defence products for Ukraine. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)