Source: European Parliament
The Commission is actively working to reduce dependency on Chinese drone components by promoting diversification of supply chains and supporting EU industrial capacities.
To this end, the European Defence Fund provides funding for collaborative projects in drone and counter-drone technologies. The EU’s foreign direct investment screening framework helps identifying and mitigating risks associated with third-country dependencies.
The EU Drone Strategy 2.0[1] contributes to the objectives of the ‘Action plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries’, exploring synergies between the civil and defence drone industries, including counter-drone technologies.
The Drone Strategy includes measures to support research related to drones and innovation with dual-use potential, sets up an EU network on civil-defence drone testing centres, promotes alignment of certification requirements for civil and military drone applications, and supports the adoption of EU counter-drone package.
Moreover, in the White Paper and Rearm Europe Plan published[2] 19 March 2025 the Commission has recognised drones and counter-drones systems as one of the critical capability shortfalls and is committed to support Member States actions aimed at reducing dependencies.
The EU counter-drone communication[3], adopted in October 2023, aims to address the terrorist threat possibly posed by non-cooperative drones. It identified 18 key actions aiming at drawing up a fully-fledged EU counter-drone policy, which are being implemented.
- [1] https://transport.ec.europa.eu/document/download/1cb5fb4f-4252-4f97-abf4-c4a167b1c7d2_en?filename=COM_2022_652_drone_strategy_2.0.pdf.
- [2] https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/eu-defence-industry/introducing-white-paper-european-defence-and-rearm-europe-plan-readiness-2030_en.
- [3] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52023DC0659.