EU military innovation has made progress with the testing of unmanned aerial vehicles and unmanned ground vehicles by the European Defence Agency.
This became clear as Henna Virkkunen, the European Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, visited the European Defence Agency (EDA) in Brussels on 5 March 2026 for talks with the agency’s Chief Executive, André Denk, the EDA announced on Friday.
The meeting focused on the EDA’s support for the EU’s plan to achieve “defence readiness by 2030”, including work with member states on joint procurement of military equipment and the development of joint cyber defence capabilities.
Virkkunen was also briefed on some of the EDA’s main areas of work.
Innovation, capability development and possible expansion
The agency highlighted its work on military innovation, including a 2025 “EU OPEX” operational experimentation campaign that tested unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in field conditions rather than in laboratories, the EDA said.
The EDA emphasised further that it supports member states in developing military capabilities over the medium to long term, and Denk outlined ways the agency could expand its activities following a 2025 call from EU leaders to strengthen the EDA.
Virkkunen said there were strong links between internal and external security for EU citizens and described efforts to bring member states together to reduce fragmentation in EU defence.
Work is continuing to improve cooperation between civilian and military authorities across the EU, Virkkunen said.
