Ukrainian Companies Join €1 Billion EU Defense Innovation Program

The European Commission is investing €910 million through the European Defense Fund (EDF), involving Ukrainian defense companies for the first time.

The announcement was published on the European Commission’s website.

The investment aims to address key capability gaps — such as troop mobility and counter-drone measures — through innovation and collaboration between European research institutions and industry.

The Commission emphasized that deeper cooperation between Ukraine and the EU defense sectors is intended to strengthen ties and further integrate Ukraine into the European defense industrial base.

“For the first time, Ukrainian defense enterprises can be involved in EDF projects. This is an important step in strengthening cooperation between the Ukrainian and European defense industries,” European Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier said previously.

These investments support the development of Europe’s defense industry under the Commission’s “Rearmament of Europe” plan through 2030 and the joint “White Paper” on European Defense Readiness, which outlines a new defense approach and identifies investment priorities.

Nine projects were selected in the 2024 EDF competition for breakthrough technologies, including METASTEALTH, which focuses on next-generation stealth materials.

Among the newly selected initiatives is Ukrainian Small UAS, a project aimed at developing advanced AI-powered unmanned aerial systems.

Other projects include ENGRTII, which brings together over 45 industrial and research partners to develop a next-generation European helicopter by 2030, and EUROSWEEP, which will design a unified autonomous mine-clearing system.

Another project, EUROSWEEP, will create a joint autonomous European trawling system.

As previously reported, the European Commission will allocate an additional €2.1 billion from profits generated by frozen Russian assets to military aid for Ukraine.

Of that sum, €1.1 billion will go toward arms procurement for Ukraine, while the remainder will be spent — following Denmark’s model — on purchases directly from Ukrainian manufacturers.