I. Introduction
The war in Ukraine, which began in 2022, has exposed the core weaknesses of the European defence industry, with multinational collaborative projects standing out as a key issue (Genini, 2025). Member States have long designed and procured military assets directly from their national industries. Over the years, this has led to a duplication of projects for the same type of equipment, driving up costs and contributing to a more fragmented industrial landscape (Schumann & Maggiore, 2026).
The EU has recognised this problem in the ReArm Europe Plan/Readiness 2030, which established the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) instrument, and, at a strategic level, in the White Paper for European Defence – Readiness 2030 (European Commission, 2025; European Parliament, 2025). It soon became clear, however, that funding was not the only obstacle. Fragmentation, disputes over division of tasks, governance and intellectual property hindered the creation of collaborative projects (Perotto, 2023). The paper argues that the fragmentation problem is structural and political rather than only financial, and that the governance model of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), although it sits outside the EU framework, could offer useful lessons to further European collaboration (D’Urso, 2025).
Section 1 explores the political and legislative causes of the fragmentation of the European defence technological and industrial base, the role of Article 346 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the missed deadlines on collaborative projects inside the Union and the cases of the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) and Eurofighter. Section 2 focuses on the GCAP project, its structure, strengths, and possible future outcomes. Section 3 summarises the findings, discusses weaknesses in the GCAP project, and offers recommendations on how this international collaborative project could serve as a positive example within the EU.
About the author
Giulio Civettini is a research trainee at Finabel.