European union

Rheinmetall locks in wide-ranging $6.6 billion weapons package with Romania

Romania is due to become the second Lynx operator on NATO's eastern flank after Hungary's 2020 order of 218 vehicles.

Canada to buy Polish drones, deepen defense ties by leveraging EU SAFE funds

In December, Canada became the only non-European country to gain entry into the €150 billion SAFE defense borrowing and procurement scheme. 

European Commission adopts $1.7B work program to ramp up weapons production

The European Defence Industry Programme covers funding for 2026 through 2027 with a first round of calls for proposals opening on the EU’s tender portal starting on Tuesday.

Poland unveils detailed defense spending for $51B in EU SAFE loans

According to Poland’s government, the money, which will be spent between 2026 and 2030, will go to a wide variety of systems, including artillery, cybersecurity, ground combat and more.

5 countries, 10 companies, €15M: PRECISE AI project aims to protect European infrastructure

Funded by the EU’s European Defense Fund and led by Spanish-based multinational GMV, PRECISE will use AI to analyze satellite imagery and recreate 3D models of critical sites.

Raytheon exec: Patriots to be ‘as up to date as humanly possible’ amid European demand

"We've invested more than a billion dollars in securing material ahead of orders, and that makes it a lot easier [to deliver on new orders]," said Tom Laliberty, president of land and air defense systems at Raytheon.

Europe’s time to shine in space? 2026 preview

Germany is sprinting to pump up its military space systems, perhaps changing the balance of power in setting European-wide priorities.

Five stories that surprised the space world: 2025 review

'Unsettled' is a polite word for 2025 in the space domain.

ESA leaders greenlight $1.6 billion for new ‘non-aggressive’ space security initiative

ESA's ruling Council of Ministers approved a whopping $25.7B in funds over the next three years — a 32 percent increase over the previous three-year budget.

Germany’s first space security strategy aims at independent defensive, offensive capabilities

The new strategy calls on German MoD to develop a number of new space-based capabilities, including "effectors" to counter adversary threats on orbit such as agile spaceplanes and "bodyguard" satellites with shoot-back systems.

US slams ‘discriminatory’ draft EU space law as imperiling NATO cooperation

The State Department's damning critique argues that, if enacted, the draft law would imperil cooperation on "space weather, remote sensing, space exploration, spaceflight safety, space debris mitigation and remediation, [and] communications."

In historic shift, ESA poised to take on defense role

Since its founding 50 years ago, the European Space Agency has shunned involvement in military space activities.

Europe’s strategic autonomy push fuels space mega-merger

"Project Bromo is a sovereignty play," Caleb Henry, research director at Quilty Space, told Breaking Defense.

European Council vows to ‘deliver at pace’ defense readiness roadmap 2030

The long term defense readiness project also calls for 40 percent, at minimum, of European Union defense acquisitions to be carried out on a joint procurement basis by the close of 2027.