EU programmes · European Commission (DG DEFIS)
The first structural EU defence-industrial programme, adopted in December 2025, extending the logic of ASAP and EDIRPA. The 2026-2027 work programme allocates over €700 million to Industrial Reinforcement Actions (production ramp-up), €240 million to common procurement support, €325 million to European Defence Projects of Common Interest, €100 million to the Defence Equity Facility 2.0 and €300 million to the Ukraine Support Instrument. The first call, on energetic components (€166.4 million), closed 16 June 2026 with a high number of proposals.
This is the EU money for scaling factories, not R&D: if your bottleneck is production capacity for munitions, energetic materials or components, EDIP IRA grants are the direct route, and Ukraine-linked actions are funded at up to 100%.
Closes 13 Oct 2026
Actions strengthening Ukraine's defence industrial base and its integration with EU supply chains; funding up to 100%.
Closes 16 Feb 2027
Second IRA window under the 2026-2027 work programme; a second USI-IRA call shares the same deadline.
Dates not announced · €240 million
Windows indicated for October 2026 and February 2027; applicants are groups of Member States and Norway, industry participates via national procurement.
Closes 16 Jun 2026 · €166.4 million
Closed with high demand; evaluation results expected by September 2026. Second IRA call follows in February 2027.
European Commission (DG DEFIS), with EUSPA and the EIF
Space is treated as dual-use across EU funding; CASSINI gives space-defence start-ups an equity pipeline and visibility instruments that stack with EDF and EUDIS applications.
European Investment Fund with the European Commission, under InvestEU
Not a programme you apply to as a company, but it determines which European VCs have fresh defence-mandated capital; track its fund commitments to know who can actually write you a cheque.
European Investment Bank Group
Debt, not grants: the EIB now finances defence companies that banks still avoid, and venture debt from its one-stop shop can extend runway without dilution once you have revenue or strong contracts.