In order to build a resilient, sovereign dual-use drone industry, we must be clear: incremental measures and fragmented funding are not enough.
What we need urgently, is decisive investment by the EU and national governments into MANUFACTURING and real development contracts. Not pilot projects. Not abstract concepts. But industrial SME capability that can be scaled and relied upon.
Fundamental R&D is important and needs industrial direction. Early-stage initiatives must create capacity, which leads to manufacturing. Without capacity, there is no resilience – certainly not by 2030.
At this point, Europe cannot be first. Europe needs to be fast.
European drone manufacturing capacity is limited today, and it is vulnerable. If access to non-European components is disrupted, that capacity will shrink further.
We have already seen this elsewhere. In the US, restrictions on Chinese drone imports were followed by retaliatory measures, cutting off access to critical components such as batteries. This is not a hypothetical scenario. It has already happened.
What must happen now
Resilience requires that we build manufacturing infrastructure and strategic inventory now, not later.
- First, EU and national funds must be tied to concrete procurement and realistic development contracts, with a clear focus on European manufacturers.
- Second, we need a financed inventory with rolling stock, ensuring that any publicly supported systems sold to third parties are replaced within an agreed timeframe.
- Third, all EDF, EDIP, and publicly funded drone programs must require the involvement of a European manufacturer. Public money must ONLY strengthen European industrial capability, not foreign.
- Fourth, we must fix regulations for drone manufacturers. The current framework is not resilience-friendly. It discourages manufacturing investment and weakens Europe’s competitive position.
Facing reality and acting
Let us be honest: manufacturing in Europe is more expensive than in other regions, due to political decisions of the past. That is a fact.
Resilience, therefore, will not emerge organically. It requires intentional policy, industrial focus, and coordinated execution. This must start with industrial production in order to migrate to dual-use purposes.
Call to action
My message is simple: let us sit down – industry, governments, and institutions – and design a more effective approach than the one we have today.
An approach that delivers:
- Concrete European/national support
- A clear focus on production ramp-up, not just innovation
- A coherent, European-controlled supply-chain strategy
- Manufacturers’ involvement in the political discussions and regulatory optimisation.
If Europe wants strategic autonomy in drones, we must move from ambition to execution and we must do it now.