Commission Approves $1.25 Billion For Defense Projects

The European Commission has announced its first round of investments for the European Defense Fund (EDF), reports Agence France-Presse.

The 1.2 billion euros (US$1.26 billion) in funding comes from the EDF’s 7.9 billion euro (US$8.3 billion) budget to support the development and production of European defense technologies from 2021 to 2027.

The funding approved on Monday would support the next generation of fighter aircraft, armored vehicles, ships and critical defense technologies in the areas of space, cyber, military cloud, artificial intelligence, semiconductors and medicine, said the commission.

It includes 100 million euros (US$105 million) for a hypersonic defense system (EU HYDEF) being developed by Spanish firm Sener for fielding in 2035 and 75 million euros (US$78 million) for Dassault’s EICACS aerial combat program.

A total of 61 projects are being co-funded, the commission said.