{"id":71022,"date":"2025-12-18T11:26:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T11:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2025\/12\/18\/eu-flagship-defense-rd-in-2026-covers-hypersonic-defense-future-tank\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:18:13","slug":"eu-flagship-defense-rd-in-2026-covers-hypersonic-defense-future-tank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2025\/12\/18\/eu-flagship-defense-rd-in-2026-covers-hypersonic-defense-future-tank\/","title":{"rendered":"EU flagship defense R&#038;D in 2026 covers hypersonic defense, future tank"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">PARIS \u2014 The European Defence Fund plans to allocate \u20ac1 billion ($1.2 billion) in funding for defense research and development in 2026, with the biggest chunk of money budgeted for work on air and missile defense, including countering hypersonic glide vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EDF annual work program includes \u20ac168 million for hypersonic counters and high-end endo-atmospheric interception, the European Commission wrote in a <a href=\"https:\/\/defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu\/commission-continues-strengthen-european-collaborative-defence-research-and-development-additional-2025-12-17_en\" rel=\"\">call for proposals<\/a> published Wednesday. The other big-ticket item is ground combat, with \u20ac150 million for work on future main battle tank platforms and a multiple rocket launcher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fund was set up in 2021 to back collaborative defense R&amp;D by European Union members and has so far invested around \u20ac4 billion in more than 200 projects. Some EDF-backed projects address critical capability gaps, such as Odin\u2019s Eye II to build a satellite-based early warning system, or work that would be challenging for a single country to manage, such as hypersonic defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEurope must strengthen collaboration in defense, with the European Defence Fund acting as a key foundation for this effort,\u201d European Commissioner for Defence and Space Andrius Kubilius said. \u201cFor the sixth time, we are investing significant resources to incentivize and support research and development on major defense capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EDF has helped reduced duplication and boosted pan-European cooperation, but needs procedural simplification and closer integration with national planning, according to an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.europarl.europa.eu\/RegData\/etudes\/BRIE\/2025\/777936\/EPRS_BRI(2025)777936_EN.pdf\" rel=\"\">interim evaluation<\/a> by the European Parliamentary Research Service published in October.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Half of the 2026 EDF budget is earmarked for major defense capabilities, including developing an EU endo-atmospheric interceptor, a main battle tank, multiple rocket launcher and key technologies for next-generation air fighters, the commission said. A quarter will go to future defense technologies such as quantum-secured networks, artificial intelligence and robot and drone swarms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu\/document\/download\/3991ef09-1f18-44d1-baf5-dbe60bbb928a_en?filename=EDF%20Work%20Programme%202026.pdf\" rel=\"\">work program<\/a> includes \u20ac125 million to develop future main battle tank systems with more survivability, superior firepower and the ability to operate with reduced crews and, later on, unmanned. Existing EU tank fleets are aging, and new MBT technologies need to be developed and tested in all future scenarios to maintain a technological edge, the commission said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EDF is budgeting \u20ac100 million for high-end endo-atmospheric interception, building on previous work to mature key technologies to technology readiness level 6 and develop demonstrators for areas including the interceptor air frame, propulsion and lethality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The fund will also directly award an indicative \u20ac68 million, without a new call for proposals, to continue work on building, testing and flying a basic hypersonic glide vehicle demonstrator as part of efforts to counter the threat, with the work subject to EU secrecy requirements. Companies involved include MBDA, Airbus, Diehl, Hensoldt, Kongsberg, Indra Sistemas and Saab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The EDF work program includes \u20ac90 million to study designs and enable prototypes of medium-sized, semi-autonomous surface vessels for defending coastal waters. The technology should be adaptable for new naval-warfare missions in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Next year\u2019s budget further includes amounts of \u20ac20 million to \u20ac30 million for programs including a turbofan engine in the 25-35 kilonewton thrust range to power an unmanned loyal wingman aerial vehicle; radar to track unmanned hypersonic vehicles; automated air-to-air refueling; \u201cenhanced cognitive EW\u201d that uses AI to identify and respond to threats; and a multiple rocket launcher.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The bloc&#8217;s research strategy, backed by \u20ac1 billion, includes a secret project aimed at testing a hypersonic glide vehicle demonstrator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":119963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3427],"class_list":["post-71022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"U3GJOS3N7NFFXDRC6I6KBIUB2Q","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2025\/12\/18\/eu-flagship-defense-rd-in-2026-covers-hypersonic-defense-future-tank\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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