Enabling and Dual-Use Technologies in European Defence: Public Capital as a Strategic Lever for Autonomy and Military Effectiveness
The transformation of contemporary warfare has shifted the centre of gravity from individual weapons systems to the technological infrastructures that connect, inform, and coordinate them. In this context, the European Union increasingly treats enabling and dual-use technologies as strategic assets, because they determine how effectively military forces can sense their environment, process information, communicate, and act in a contested operational space. Advanced sensors, electronics, space systems, cyber capabilities, artificial intelligence and autonomous platforms do not operate as standalone capabilities, but as cross-cutting layers that underpin almost every modern military function. The central question, therefore, is not whether Europe possesses sufficient platforms, but whether it controls the technological foundations that make those platforms effective, resilient, and interoperable. This report frames EU public capital as a deliberate policy tool used to orient innovation, reduce structural dependencies, and shape a defence-industrial ecosystem capable of sustaining European security objectives over the long term.