On 28 September 2026, the Council of the European Union adopted an implementing decision identifying the first five European Defence Projects of Common Interest (EDPCI). The projects include DronE and Counter-Drone European Resolve (DECODER), Integrated Maritime and Seabed Defence (IMSD), SPACE, EU Federated Integrated Air and Missile Defence including Early Warning (EU-FIAMD), and Eastern Flank Watch (Council of the European Union, 2026).
EDPCI are collaborative defence-industrial projects that, according to the Council, are too large or complex for individual countries to develop on their own. They were introduced by the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), a €1.5bn instrument adopted on 16 December 2025 to ramp up production and support joint procurement, and are open to Norway and Ukraine (European Commission, 2026). The aim is to overcome the fragmentation caused by governments procuring separately and in small quantities, which keeps production runs short and unit costs high (MejinoLópez & Wolff, 2024). Earlier tools, such as the European Defence Fund (EDF), Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), and the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence, achieved only limited integration (Blockmans & Fiott, 2026), and the EU has since shifted from soft law towards financial incentives for cooperation (Fiott, 2024).
The European Commission shortlisted five out of nine proposals on 3 July, and the Council’s decision now makes them official and eligible for EDIP funding (Council of the European Union, 2026). The five projects look more like layers of one defensive system than five separate programmes. DECODER covers the fast-moving drone and counter-drone layer. EU-FIAMD and SPACE sit above it, adding early warning of missile launches, satellite communications, and rapid-replacement launch. IMSD covers the sea and what lies beneath it, while Eastern Flank Watch links land, air, sea and cyber along the eastern border (Council of the European Union, 2026). Defence Commissioner Andrius Kublius presents them as contributions to a European Air, Maritime and Space Shield. EDPCI are EDIP’s tool for funding the Readiness Roadmap 2030’s four flagships: the European Drone Defence Initiative (EDDI), Eastern Flank Watch, the European Air Shield and the European Space Shield (European Commission, 2025).
About the author
Caelinn Cavalli is a Defence & Security research trainee at Finabel