Brief

A Rampart of Drones to Defend Europe

A Plan for the New European Commission and High Representative

Quote this publication

Haroche, P. “A Rampart of Drones to Defend Europe”, Brief, Jacques Delors Institute, September 2024


Drones are currently at the heart of many key challenges to European security. A European Union (EU) drone production and procurement plan launched by the European Commission and High Representative could have several simultaneous objectives:

  • strengthening Ukraine’s capabilities in an increasingly crucial category of military equipment,
  • stimulating the adaptation of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) to a major military revolution, and
  • preparing NATO’s European pillar to face up to the challenge of massification and the risk of a US pivot towards Asia.

This threefold reinforcement of Ukraine, the EDTIB and NATO’s European pillar would constitute what might be called Europe’s ‘rampart of drones’.