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(2) In order to foster the competitiveness, efficiency and innovation capacity of the Union's defence industry, which contributes to the Union's strategic autonomy, a European Defence Industrial Development Programme (the ‘Programme’) should be established. The Programme should aim to enhance the competitiveness of the Union's defence industry, contributing to the improvement of defence capabilities, inter alia, in relation to cyber defence, by supporting cooperation between undertakings throughout the Union, including SMEs and middle capitalisation companies (mid-caps), research centres and universities, and collaboration between Member States, in the development phase of defence products and technologies, thus facilitating better exploitation of economies of scale in the defence industry and promoting the standardisation of defence systems while improving their interoperability. The development phase, which follows the research and technology phase, entails significant risks and costs that hamper the further exploitation of the results of research and adversely impact the competitiveness of the Union's defence industry. By supporting the development phase, the Programme would contribute to a better exploitation of the results of defence research and would help to cover the gap between research and production. It would also promote all forms of innovation, since the positive effects of such support can be expected to spill over into the civilian sector. The Programme complements activities carried out in accordance with Article 182 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and it does not cover the production or procurement of defence products or technologies.

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-05 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.