Industrial Conversion of Robotics and Automation Firms Toward Defence Output
This report examines a structural change now underway across advanced industrial economies: the rapid conversion of civilian robotics and automation firms into defence-relevant production assets. As NATO and the EU shift toward permanent readiness and sustained industrial capacity, demand is moving from traditional defence primes to a wider technological ecosystem capable of scale, speed and adaptability. Europe, South Korea and Japan are emerging as parallel laboratories of this transformation, each developing distinct pathways for integrating autonomous systems, automated manufacturing and high-precision robotics into defence output. The report analyses these models with a focus on institutional incentives, regulatory conditions and industrial feasibility. It highlights why robotics firms are becoming critical to munitions production, autonomous platforms, logistics automation and testing infrastructure. For investors and policymakers, understanding this conversion is essential to anticipating how Europe’s defence-industrial base will expand, where new strategic bottlenecks may appear, and which categories of companies are positioned to become indispensable within a readiness-driven defence economy.