Written by: Octavio Augusto Bellomo
Edited by: Arpita Sahai & Miguel Reyes-Castro
Supervised by: Daniel Florov & Miguel Reyes-Castro

The European Defence Fund (EDF) was launched in 2017 as an aspect of the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) to increase coordination and investment in defence research and development (R&D) and improve interoperability between European national armed forces. Domestic demand for defence technologies in Europe has fallen sharply in recent decades, which has led to smaller investments in R&D, increased dependence on civilian sectors, and stagnation of military-industrial skills. Small and medium-sized enterprises, especially those from smaller European states, struggle to compete with larger corporations from bigger economies. Furthermore, European military spending has become mired with inefficiencies and duplications. After an initial pilot period, the EDF has been allotted €8 billion for R&D. And while this is a start, the EDF requires a serious expansion for the current and future European capability needs. There are significant hurdles that Europe faces, some of which remain outside the scope of the EDF, such as the lack of an open European defence equipment market. These issues cannot be ignored when conventional warfare has returned to Europe.