Strategic Autonomy in European Defence: Requirements and Challenges

Defence Finance Monitor bridges the gap between the defence and financial worlds, offering a strategic lens on Europe’s path toward military self-reliance. This report examines what European countries truly need—militarily, industrially, and politically—to defend themselves without relying on the United States.

It clarifies the scale of investment, the timeframe required, and the institutional innovations necessary to match modern threats. Understanding the defence-finance nexus is key to assessing both the risks and opportunities in this transformation. For investors, policymakers, and analysts, DFM provides the insight needed to track Europe's rearmament and autonomy agenda.

This analysis answers: What weapon systems by domain does Europe require to defend itself without relying on the United States? What defence-industrial-base bottlenecks and dependencies, and what budgetary projections and timelines, does the transition demand? How do operational readiness, logistics and intelligence, cyber and C4ISR improvements factor into European self-reliance? What policy, legal and institutional enablers are needed to match modern threats, and what are the investment implications?