Read more about the article Beyond Exquisite: Europe’s Defence Strategy in the Era of Precise Mass
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Beyond Exquisite: Europe’s Defence Strategy in the Era of Precise Mass

As precision strike capabilities proliferate globally, European states face the strategic dilemma of finding the right balance between mass and precision in their defence posture. Historically reliant on high-quality, exquisite systems, a legacy of the Cold War, their militaries must adapt to an era where lower-cost, mass-produced precision weapons are reshaping modern warfare. While the United States is recalibrating its strategy toward a mix of stealth and scale, Europe must craft its own approach, factoring in its industrial capacity, geopolitical imperatives, and alliance commitments. Successfully developing and integrating attritable systems without undermining technological superiority will be necessary to strengthen European armed forces and ensure long-term operational readiness. This article argues that European defence planners must rethink force structures and procurement strategies, striking the right balance between quality and quantity to enhance flexibility and credible deterrence in a volatile regional environment.

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5 March 2025
Read more about the article Hyper-Connectivity as a Trigger for Strategic Autonomy in the European Union: Through a Transformative and Disruptive Technological Transition
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Hyper-Connectivity as a Trigger for Strategic Autonomy in the European Union: Through a Transformative and Disruptive Technological Transition

Over the past two decades, the European Union (EU) has intensely recalibrated its strategies to fulfil its mission of promoting peace and security and guaranteeing democracy, rule of law, freedoms, human rights, and equality to its citizens. Given the increase in non-conventional threats in the cyber, hybrid, and “cybrid” domains, the EU has started to strengthen its response to this changing security environment. In this context, technological change has become the main character in a society whose governments, economies, people, and armies are highly dependent on hyper-connectivity and impacted by it. The technological transition has transformed how enemies attack their counterparts, fostering digital rivalries and tighter industry competition. To this end, the Union has recently launched the EU’s Secure Connectivity Programme (2023-2027), which encloses the third EU constellation of strategic space infrastructures called IRIS2. The latter, inter alia, has been designed to foster strategic autonomy in the Union, thereby reducing foreign dependencies. It is fundamental for the Union to enhance its ability to respond and counter cyber challenges with a comprehensive and collaborative approach, as individual and protectionist actions from the Member States obstruct the achievement of a higher degree of strategic autonomy in the technological and defence arenas.

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16 December 2022
Read more about the article The European Union as a Strategic Autonomous and Defence Technological Actor: Between Promises and Reality.
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The European Union as a Strategic Autonomous and Defence Technological Actor: Between Promises and Reality.

The nexus between the concepts of European Strategic Autonomy (EU-SA) and the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) concerns the old willingness of the European Union (EU) to thrive as a global defence actor with autonomous decision-making and freedom of action. However, to do so, it is indispensable to achieve stronger technological sovereignty through balanced cooperation between Member States (MSs). The latter lack, inter alia, a common strategic culture, that is delaying the competitiveness and readiness of the European defence industry while leaving behind crucial investments in modern defence technologies. The EU finds itself in a reality where national interests prevail in a fragmented market with abundant duplicates of capabilities and collective budgetary deficiencies. For instance, this paper shall delve into the reasons why the EU is not yet a strategic autonomous and defence technological actor after actively working on this since 2013. This shall be done through an analysis of the two concepts – EU-SA and EDTIB – and an evaluation of the status quo. The final goal of this project is to prove that the prevalence of national interests over collective technological sovereignty is clogging the implementation of a tangible military-industrial base, without which the EU cannot become a strategic autonomous player in the defence industry.

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19 October 2022