The European Commission has allocated more than 168 million euros for the development of the defense industry
The European Commission has allocated 168.2 million euros to support the first eight projects under the “Industrial Resilience Actions” (IRA) initiative. This initiative is part of the European Defense Industry Program (EDIP), established following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
These projects will attract 1.26 billion euros in industrial investment to accelerate and expand the production of propellants used in missiles, drones, and ammunition.
Starting in 2027, these projects are expected to reduce production lead times by 90% and ensure an annual output of more than 20,000 metric tons of propellants, 3,500 power units for drones and missiles, 200,000 warheads for unmanned munitions, and 60 million units of ammunition.
These investments will support production at 17 facilities in 14 EU member states and Norway, and will also help protect these facilities from physical and cyber threats.
The first call for proposals under the program was announced in June 2026. Companies from 23 EU member states and Norway submitted 83 proposals in response.
The EU IRA program is based on the Act on Support for Ammunition Production (ASAP)—an emergency instrument designed to eliminate immediate production bottlenecks and increase ammunition production capacity following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The EDIP program, with a total budget of 1.5 billion euros, aims to strengthen Europe’s defense industry. More than 700 million euros allocated to the IRA initiative are intended to expand defense production in EU member states, Norway, and Ukraine.
This was reported with reference to the European Commission’s press service.
Ukraine is preparing to scale up its defense production.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine had been preparing to welcome Donald Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, at the airport. However, due to Russian airstrikes, the American representatives were unable to fly and arrived in Kyiv by train.
On Sunday, September 6, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in central Kyiv with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. The American representatives had held talks at the Kremlin the day before and had now arrived in Ukraine for meetings with Ukrainian officials.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, have arrived in Kyiv. They arrived in the capital and were already at Kyiv Central Station—this is their first visit to Ukraine since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
