Enabling and Dual-Use Technologies in European Defence: Public Capital as a Strategic Lever for Autonomy and Military Effectiveness

The transformation of contemporary warfare has shifted the centre of gravity from individual weapons systems to the technological infrastructures that connect, inform, and coordinate them. In this context, the European Union increasingly treats enabling and dual-use technologies as strategic assets, because they determine how effectively military forces can sense their environment, process information, communicate, and act in a contested operational space.

Advanced sensors, electronics, space systems, cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence and autonomous platforms do not operate as standalone capabilities, but as cross-cutting layers that underpin almost every modern military function.

This analysis answers: Which enabling and dual-use technologies—advanced sensors, electronics, space systems, cyber, AI and autonomous platforms—does the EU treat as strategic assets? How do these cross-cutting technological layers connect, inform and coordinate military forces in contested operational space? How can public capital serve as a strategic lever for European autonomy and military effectiveness in these technologies? Which actors, constraints and policy measures shape the transformation from individual weapons systems to enabling technological infrastructures?