Can AGILE boost the EU’s defence readiness? Ask the Euronews chatbot

Published on 06/04/2026 - 8:00 GMT+2

EU subordinate states’ defence probe and improvement (R&D) amounted to €13 cardinal successful 2024. Investments accrued by an further €4 cardinal successful 2025, according to European Defence Agency estimates.

The US and China inactive support a important pb implicit Europe. In 2024, Washington invested €138 cardinal successful defence innovation, portion China’s estimated defence manufacture R&D reached €38 billion, with a absorption connected AI, hypersonic, and quantum technologies.

The EU’s Programme for Agile and Rapid Defence Innovation (AGILE) supports “new defence players” to accelerate the improvement of caller defence technologies.

The program allocates €115 cardinal to 20-30 projects involving SMEs, startups, tech innovators, and AI scale-ups moving connected dual-use and defence technologies. Projects volition person €1 cardinal to €5 million, depending connected their scope and maturity.

AGILE promises to enactment innovators from the method improvement signifier to modulation to real-world use. It foresees four-month backing approvals and deployment to subordinate states' nationalist forces wrong 3 years.

The program besides aims to shorten time-to-deployment arsenic conflicts germinate connected timelines of weeks. Executive Vice-President Henna Virkkunen called AGILE “the missing portion of the puzzle that helps defence solutions scope the market”.

The European Commission has enactment guardant a connection for a regularisation establishing AGILE arsenic portion of its March 2026 defence package, which is present being transmitted to the European Council and Parliament.

Curious astir however companies tin payment from AGILE? Ask the Euronews AI chatbot!