The European Commission has allocated €168.2 million to eight projects designed to expand European production of energetic components used in missiles, drones and ammunition.
The funding was awarded under the Industrial Reinforcement Action (IRA) pillar of the European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP), the Commission reported on Wednesday.
Energetic components are materials such as propellants and explosives that provide the energy for propulsion or detonation in weapons systems.
The selected projects are expected to leverage €1.26 billion in industrial investment, with work taking place across 17 sites in 14 EU member states and Norway.
From 2027, the projects are expected to cut manufacturing times by up to 90% and enable annual output of more than 20,000 tonnes of energetic materials, 3,500 drone and missile propulsion systems, 200,000 loitering munitions warheads and 60 million rounds of ammunition.
Strong demand for the first call
The first IRA call focused on energetic components was published in June 2026 and drew 83 proposals from companies in 23 EU member states and Norway, the Commission said.
The call builds on the EU’s Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP), which it described as an emergency instrument created to address immediate production bottlenecks after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
EDIP has a total budget of €1.5 billion, and more than €700 million has been allocated to the IRA pillar to expand defence production in member states, Norway and Ukraine.
