EU ambassadors advance major defense projects plan, with Ukraine featuring prominently

BRUSSELS, Belgium — EU ambassadors on Sept. 16 approved plans for five bloc-wide projects potentially worth tens of billions of euros each to beef up Europe's defense capacity.

The projects were proposed by the European Commission in July 2026 to address "urgent strategic capability shortfalls in key areas including air defense, maritime security, space, drone, and counter-drone capabilities, and monitoring of the EU's eastern flank," a European Council Presidency spokesperson told journalists.

Ukraine is included in four of the five projects, with the space project being the lone exception.

Ambassadors also endorsed the European Commission's proposal to provide 60 million euros ($69 million) to each of the five projects, known as European Defense Projects of Common Interest (EDPCI), to get them up and running.

But 60 million euros is only a fraction of the cost of the EDPCIs, which, as presented, would roll out over years. One of them is expected to last until 2045, and taken together, the projects come with a price tag of 281 billion euros ($324 billion).

"The (European) Commission will be the ones to facilitate the funding for each project," a Council Presidency spokesperson said.

The next step to formally bring the projects into existence is for EU defense ministers to vote on them, which is expected at their next meeting scheduled for Sept. 28.

Introducing the projects

The first of the five proposed projects is dedicated entirely to drone and counter-drone technology, where Ukraine is expected to play an important role, and all EU countries are taking part except for neutral Malta.

DECODER, as it is known, is expected to cost between 3.5 billion euros and 5.5 billion euros ($4 billion to $6 billion), making it by far the cheapest of the five projects. That money will fund a network of drone technology hubs to facilitate testing and innovation, and improve interoperability.

Of likely more immediate interest to Ukraine is the air and missile defense project (EU-FIAMD), expected to cost 55-80 billion euros ($63-92 billion) by 2040.

While Ukraine is a world leader in drone warfare, the country's weakness lies in anti-ballistic missile defenses. This gap has been exploited in recent weeks by Russia, with repeated strikes against civilians in Kyiv and the destruction of cultural heritage — all war crimes.

The project aims to ensure countries have "the required quality and quantity" of integrated air and missile defenses, as well as solid early warning systems.

The scope of the newly proposed projects also ventures out into space, where Ukraine is not participating, and into the sea, where it is.

The "integrated maritime and seabed defense" project envisions bringing together military and civilian personnel, as well as drones, to monitor all types of sea-based infrastructure, such as fuel pipelines, wind turbines, and internet cables.

Rounding out the list of the five projects is its most expensive, the Eastern Flank Watch, estimated to cost between 60 and 100 billion euros ($69-115 billion) by 2036.

Unlike the other four projects, the Eastern Flank Watch cuts across combat domains and is instead geographically restricted, though the proposal argues that "it benefits all member states against concrete security threats and is open to extend its geographic area of interest."

It is also the project that has already begun work without waiting for full EU approval, with Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo announcing in December 2025 that his country would co-lead the group with Poland.