European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Wednesday 15 July the launch of a new EU-Ukraine defence industrial partnership. She also announced the signing of a new the EU–Ukraine Drone Deal modelled on those concluded bilaterally between Ukraine and several countries around the world.
The European Commission and Ukraine thus intend to work jointly on developing a strategic defence industrial partnership and on establishing, together with the EU Member States, an EU–Ukraine Defence Industrial Pact. Building on the logic of the existing bilateral agreements on drones between the EU Member States and Ukraine, the Pact will aim to facilitate, co-ordinate and support their full implementation by providing a single, coherent European Union-Ukraine framework.
This ‘Pact’ covers several priority areas for action. According to Ms von der Leyen, the “heart” of the partnership is the Drone Deal. The European Commission and Ukraine are committed to promoting the joint production, between the EU Member States and Ukraine, of drones and anti-drone systems by the end of 2026. “This new cooperation will revolve around joint ventures, with targeted technology transfers, increased expertise and investment in dual-use sectors in Ukraine. The aim is to combine the best of the Ukrainian and European drone ecosystems: Ukrainian ingenuity, tested daily on the ground, and the EU’s industrial power, capable of producing quickly and on a large scale”, Ms von der Leyen explained at a press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The latter recalled that his country was producing 10 million drones a year. “And there will be 20. We will do it with our partners, once again demonstrating the success of the defence industry” of his country and of Europe, he promised.
On Wednesday, the Commission paid an additional €1 billion to Ukraine for the acquisition of drones. This is the second disbursement of the first tranche of €6 billion from the €90 billion loan in support of Ukraine, earmarked for the acquisition of drones (see EUROPE 13899/7).
Strengthening ballistic missile defence. “We want to apply this same model of cooperation (on drones) to other capabilities, notably missiles and air defence systems,” the Commission President announced.
Thus, by 2028, the two parties intend to work towards stepping up the joint production of anti-ballistic missiles by EU industry and the Ukrainian defence industry in order to make up for the current shortfall in air defence capabilities. On Monday 13 July, Ukraine and several European partners announced the launch, on the sidelines of the Coalition of the Willing, of a new Integrated Coalition against ballistic missiles (see EUROPE 13908/2).
The Commission also announced that it had approved a €10 billion disbursement plan to finance additional drones, missiles and combat aircraft.
The Pact also aims to step up efforts to guarantee supply chains essential to the resilience of the Ukrainian war effort and to the strategic resilience of the European Union. Lastly, it concerns the integration of the Ukrainian defence industry into the defence industrial ecosystem of the European Union. “It is now absolutely clear that the Ukrainian army and the Ukrainian military-industrial complex are an integral part of the defence of the whole of Europe”, Mr Zelensky said.
In order to realise its ambitions, the ‘Pact’ provides for the use of the €90 billion loan, but also additional resources, “including budgetary resources still available under SAFE, amounting to €10 billion (…) for the placement of long-term orders with the defence companies concerned in the areas of drones and missiles”. It could also be possible “to examine the arrangements for transferring an amount of up to €1 billion from the loan, provided that this does not compromise deliveries of critical capabilities to the Ukrainian defence forces to counter Russian aggression”. The Commission also intends to support efforts to mobilise the European Peace Facility for Ukraine, of which €1 billion could be used.
To see the letter of intent: https://aeur.eu/f/mw8
BraveTech. Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on the same day that “thanks to the new EU-Ukraine BraveTech support instrument (see EUROPE 13679/17), our companies can access €260 million to increase their production and €35.3 million in innovation grants, covering up to 100% of costs”.
The Commission announced the selection of six promising companies for their defence technologies under BraveTech: Soraccel, EdgeX Robotics, Smaesh, Kova Labs, Tempterno Defence and Rannon. Their solutions will be tested under conditions simulating the Ukrainian theatre of operations. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)