EU approves €115m defence innovation grant programme open to Ukraine

The European Union has set up the €115 million AGILE programme to fund innovative defence projects developed by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Ukrainian companies will also be eligible to participate.

Source: European Pravda, citing the European Commission press service

Details: The new €115 million funding instrument will provide targeted support to SMEs to develop innovative defence solutions and facilitate their deployment.

"The programme will operate with an unprecedented time-to-grant of just four months and for technologies to reach defence forces between 1-3 years. It will support between 20 and 30 projects, providing up to 100% funding for all eligible costs," the press service said.

The work programme will cover two main activities: the development of revolutionary defence products and technologies, and their introduction to the market.

The AGILE programme was adopted less than seven months after the European Commission submitted its proposal in March 2026.

"Russia's war in Ukraine has demonstrated that success on the battlefield relies on new technologies, from drones and autonomous systems to artificial [intelligence]. Europe's ability to develop, test, and deploy new technologies and cost-efficient solutions in weeks or months rather than years is now being tested," the European Commission stated.

The AGILE programme is expected to become fully operational in early 2027. Entrepreneurs from Ukraine and the European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland) are eligible to participate.

Background:

• By the end of October, the European Commission plans to unveil a separate Security Strategy designed to complement NATO's Article 4.
• It was previously reported that the European Commission plans to allocate around €20 billion in unused loans to launch a call for defence projects for the EU and Ukraine.
• The European Commission is also allocating €325 million to support the establishment and implementation of five European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCI), with Ukraine taking part in four of them.

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