European Defence Fund

[3] The European Commission co-finances joint defence industrial projects and supports collaborative defense research across the EU.

The plan is that from 2021, a fully-fledged European Defence Fund will foster an innovative and competitive defense industrial base and contribute to the EU's strategic autonomy.

Strategic autonomy is the ability of the European Union to defend Europe and act militarily in its neighborhood without so much reliance on the United States.

The EDF is implemented through an annual work programme structured along 17 thematic and horizontal categories of actions which will remain stable during the Multiannual Financial Framework 2021-2027.

In order to ease administrative barriers to international collaboration on EDF sponsored projects and counteract the fragmentation of the European defence industry, the  European Commission has also drafted the  Directive 2009/43/EC (the Defence Transfers Directive or the Transfers Directive) which aims to simplify the rules for transfers of defence equipment between European Member States to ensure the proper functioning of the internal market and simplify otherwise restrictive requirements for the industry, especially for SMEs.

These cover priority areas in all domains such as air, land, sea, cyber and space:[7] The 2019 Work Programme also dedicated €25 million for research in Electromagnetic Full-spectrum dominance and Future Disruptive Defence Technologies.