European Commission seeks founding members for new EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance

The European Commission has announced a call for applications to participate in the creation of a new EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance, aimed at bringing together manufacturers, innovators, startups, and end users of defense technologies.

That is according to the European Commission's press service, Ukrinform reports.

According to the statement, the European Commission, in close cooperation with Ukraine, is launching the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance.

"The Drone Alliance aims to connect industrial actors to learn from each other, in particular from Ukraine's adaptation in a full-scale war situation and build together drone and counter-drone capabilities. […] Drones and counter-drones are one of the capability priority areas identified and agreed by Member States. The Defense Readiness Roadmap 20301 has underlined the need to address this capability as a matter of priority considering the level of threats, and in a coordinated manner so that it would benefit the security of the EU," the statement said.

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The European Commission explained that the Alliance will be an industry-led initiative that will bring together system manufacturers and innovators, including startups and scaleups, as well as end-users from the EU, EEA EFTA States and Ukraine, with the intention to contribute to ongoing European efforts to build a comprehensive drone and counter-drone capability.

The creation of the Alliance comes in response to repeated recent violations of EU member states' airspace by drones, highlighting the urgent need to develop a modern European capacity to defend against UAVs, the statement added.

Founding members will be selected from applicants with experience in the field of defense drones from both the EU and Ukraine. They will form the Alliance's initial governing board and play a key role in shaping its activities and priorities, the press release said.

The Alliance is expected to begin operations in the coming months, with applications open until May 25, 2026.

Photo: wwfcee.org