Defence Finance Monitor #137
Defence Finance Monitor applies a top–down method that traces how NATO, EU and allied strategic priorities are translated into regulations, funding lines and procurement programmes, and then into demand for specific capabilities, technologies and companies. We use official doctrine as the organising frame to identify where strategic relevance is being institutionally defined and where it is materialising in concrete budgets, acquisition pathways and industrial capacity.
Our working assumption is that what becomes structurally relevant in NATO/EU strategy tends, over time, to become relevant also from a financial and industrial point of view. On this basis, DFM operates as a decision-support tool: it benchmarks investment and industrial choices against institutional demand, clarifies which capabilities are rising on the spending agenda, and maps the funding instruments, eligibility constraints and supply-chain factors that shape real-world feasibility across investors, industry, public authorities and research organisations.
Mapping Ukraine’s Defence Industry in 2026: A Strategic Guide for European Companies
A Strategic Roadmap for Partnerships, Legal Incentives, and Industrial Integration
Ukraine’s defence industry is no longer a marginal wartime improvisation: by 2026 it functions as a scaled, multi-tier industrial ecosystem, shaped by accelerated production cycles, formal legal incentives, and a growing interface with European capital and procurement architectures. This report maps that ecosystem as a decision tool for European companies, focusing on partnership pathways, compliance constraints, and industrial integration mechanisms that now determine who can co-produce, supply, invest, and scale in and with Ukraine—across drones, munitions, C4ISR software, electronic warfare, and critical Tier-3 inputs—within a framework that is increasingly aligned with EU and allied rules on sovereignty, control, and security of supply.
Entering a SEAP: Legal Procedures for Establishing Stable European Security Consortia
A technical guide to the creation of the “Structure for European Armament Programme” within the EDIP framework for industrial integration and technological sovereignty.
The introduction of the Structure for European Armament Programme marks a structural shift in how Europe organises defence procurement, industrial cooperation, and long-term capability management. This analysis explains what entering a SEAP actually entails in legal and operational terms: how the structure is constituted, which eligibility and sovereignty constraints apply, how funding bonuses and fiscal exemptions are unlocked, and why SEAPs are becoming the preferred vehicle for stable, multi-decade defence consortia under EDIP and SAFE. It is written as a practical guide for policymakers, defence companies, and investors seeking to understand how collective procurement is being transformed from ad-hoc coordination into a durable institutional architecture aligned with Europe’s Readiness 2030 objectives.
Fortifying the Seabed: The European Strategy for Submarine Cable Security
A strategic €347 million investment framework to enhance the resilience, repair capacity, and real-time monitoring of critical undersea data infrastructure.
Europe’s dependence on submarine data cables has moved from a technical issue to a core security concern. This analysis examines the European Commission’s new strategy to protect undersea connectivity, combining regulatory coordination with a €347 million investment framework aimed at resilience, rapid repair, and continuous monitoring. It explains how cable security is being reframed as a matter of strategic sovereignty, how public authorities are being equipped with emergency response capabilities, and why undersea infrastructure is now treated alongside energy and defence assets within the Union’s broader security architecture.
Company Profiles Database
Defence Finance Monitor continues to expand its proprietary database of over 900 company profiles, focusing on enterprises that actively contribute to the defence and technological priorities of European, NATO, and allied countries. Each profile is developed using the DFM Strategic-Technological Analysis Framework, assessing how companies align with key objectives—strategic autonomy, technological sovereignty, and cross-border interoperability.
The database highlights firms that reduce dependencies on non-allied suppliers, reinforce industrial resilience, and support interoperable capabilities essential to credible deterrence, force modernisation, and long-term defence planning. It provides a decision-oriented resource for tracking how industrial actors position themselves within the evolving defence ecosystem of liberal democracies.
Recent additions include Tesat-Spacecom (optical communications), C-Astral Aerospace (fixed-wing UAVs), Svarmi (aerial automation), HYON AS (hydrogen refuelling), Site S.p.A. (secure communications), Antycip Simulation (defence simulation), Next-AT SA (aviation training), Nethix S.r.l. (industrial IoT), ASE S.p.A. (power conversion), Logic S.p.A. (integrated avionics), Revision Military (protective systems), AEREA S.p.A. (defence aerospace), Cristanini S.p.A. (CBRN decontamination), Steatite Ltd (tactical communications), Chelton Limited (navigation systems), Penman Engineering (precision engineering), and HPS GmbH (satellite antennas).
Without a structured map of the linkages between doctrine, budget and capacity, strategy remains abstract, capital remains misallocated, and industrial readiness remains reactive rather than deliberate.