Ammunition, Missiles and Air Defence

European defence autonomy is no longer measured by political declarations or headline spending alone. It is measured by the ability to turn public money into artillery rounds, missile stocks, air-defence interceptors, energetic materials, delivery slots and replenishable inventories.

This is the sector in which readiness becomes visible: not as an abstract strategic ambition, but as output rates, delivery times, supplier concentration, stockpile depth and the capacity of European industry to sustain demand under pressure. The report analyses this problem in four steps. It first explains why ammunition, missiles and air defence are the decisive test of European readiness.

This analysis answers: Why are ammunition, missiles and air defence the decisive test of European defence autonomy? What constrains ammunition production and the energetic-materials base? What limits missile, long-range strike, anti-tank and air-defence interceptor output? What industrial and financial implications follow from supplier concentration and stockpile depth?