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Equity Transactions and the Continuity of EDF Support: SME Status, Group Control and the Funding Rate

Question: When a prime takes a stake in an EDF-funded SME, does public support continue? Continuity turns on SME status, group control and the funding rate — the legal perimeter, not whether anyone calls it an acquisition.

The European Defence Fund was built to do two things that pull apart at company level: draw smaller undertakings into cross-border defence programmes, and push the technologies they carry toward industrial scale…

EDF Article 9 Explained: Foreign-Control Eligibility Under The European Defence Fund

Question: EDF Article 9 Explained: Foreign-Control Eligibility Under the European Defence Fund: what does it mean for European defence funding and who can access it?

The European Defence Fund does not treat eligibility as a matter of formal incorporation alone. Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2021/697 makes participation conditional on where an entity is established, where its assets…

Compulsory Screening Across the Twenty-Seven: Regulation (EU) 2026/1386 and the New EU FDI Regime

Question: Regulation (EU) 2026/1386 makes FDI screening compulsory across all 27 member states from 2028 — which defence and dual-use deals become notifiable, and how does that change deal certainty and price?

From January 2028, foreign-investment screening in the European Union stops being a patchwork and becomes an obligation across every member state. Regulation (EU) 2026/1386 on the screening of foreign investments in the…

SEAP Under EDIP Europe’s New Legal-Financial Vehicle For Armament Programmes

Question: SEAP Under EDIP Europe’s New Legal-Financial Vehicle for Armament Programmes: what capability does it address, and how mature is it?

The Structure for European Armament Programme is designed to address a specific defect in European defence cooperation: the gap between political agreement on joint capability needs and the legal, financial and…

EDIP Work Programme 2026–2027: Financing Europe’s Defence Industrial Scale-Up

Question: EDIP Work Programme 2026–2027: Financing Europe’s Defence Industrial Scale-Up: what does it mean for European defence funding and who can access it?

Europe’s defence-industrial problem is no longer only a question of capability planning. It is now a question of financing production capacity, securing supply chains, aggregating procurement demand and reducing…

EDF Participation Does Not Guarantee Defence Market Access: The Six Positions Behind One Percentage

Question: €1.01bn of EDF proposals were selected in 2026, but which participants actually reach the defence market — and which of the six legal positions behind the SME participation figure converts into revenue?

The headline that European SMEs are "entering defence programmes in large numbers" is true and misleading at once. Being inside a consortium funded by the European Defence Fund is not the same as reaching the defence…

Europe's €115 Million Bet on Speed in Defence Innovation

Question: the outcomes on which a successor instrument in the next financial framework would have to be argued?

Analysis as of 5 August 2026. On 25 March 2026 the European Commission put forward a pilot with an unusually blunt selling point: money for defence innovators, decided within four months. AGILE — the Union's agile and…

Germany Plans Major Procurement Wave To Rebuild Conventional Military Power

Question: Germany Plans Major Procurement Wave to Rebuild Conventional Military Power: what capability does it address, and how mature is it?

Germany is preparing to undertake one of the most significant rearmament efforts in its post-war history. The redefinition of Europe’s security environment, triggered by Russia’s war against Ukraine and reinforced by…

Procurement Act 2023 and Britain's Empty Debarment List: Where Defence-Supplier Exclusion Really Attaches

Question: Britain's debarment list is empty, but £40.6bn of MoD spend (45% non-competitive) is awarded below it — so under the Procurement Act 2023, where does exclusion from British defence work actually attach?

For a European defence supplier, access to British military demand can no longer be judged by asking whether a company has been convicted, sanctioned or formally barred. Britain's central debarment list — the mechanism…

What Is EDPCI? European Defence Projects Of Common Interest, Explained

Question: What Is EDPCI? European Defence Projects of Common Interest, Explained: what does it mean for European defence funding and who can access it?

EDPCI is becoming a central term in Europe’s defence-industrial policy, but its meaning is often blurred by the surrounding architecture of EDIP, EDF, EDIRPA, ASAP, SAFE, PESCO and wider EU defence-readiness…

Australia's Energy Research Centre Has Every Number Except Its Own

Question: What does the DFM report on The Secure Laboratory before the Energy Capability establish?

Analysis as of 17 August 2026. On 3 August 2026 Australia's Department of Defence opened a competition to choose the lead partner for the country's first Defence Research Centre, dedicated to Operational Energy…

Denmark’s EU Presidency: A Strategic Convergence Of Security And Industrial Competitiveness

Question: Denmark’s EU Presidency: a Strategic Convergence of Security and Industrial Competitiveness: what does it mean for European defence funding and who can access it?

As Denmark assumes the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, its leadership signals a decisive shift in focus: merging security imperatives with industrial policy. In an interview with the Financial…