European Commission allocates €168.2 million to eight defence industry projects

The European Commission announced €168.2 million on October 14 for the first eight projects under the Industrial Reinforcement Action pillar of the European Defence Industry Programme, known as EDIP.

The Commission estimates that the projects will mobilise €1.26 billion in industrial investment. They are intended to expand production of energetic components used in missiles, drones and ammunition.

From 2027, the projects are expected to cut manufacturing times by up to 90%. Their annual output targets exceed 20,000 tonnes of energetic materials and include 3,500 drone and missile propulsion systems, 200,000 loitering munition warheads and 60 million units of ammunition.

These are projected results rather than output already achieved. The investment is intended to support 17 production sites across 14 EU member states and Norway, alongside measures to protect facilities against physical and cyber threats.

The first IRA call dedicated to energetic components opened in June 2026. It attracted 83 proposals from companies in 23 EU member states and Norway.

EDIP has a total budget of €1.5 billion. More than €700 million assigned to IRA is intended to expand defence production in EU countries, Norway and Ukraine. The newly announced €168.2 million concerns the selected eight projects rather than the programme’s entire budget.