Portugal joins 17 EU defence fund projects

Portugal is participating in 17 of the 57 projects selected under the European Defence Fund’s 2025 round, according to a European Commission statement and official project fact sheets reviewed by ECO. The result gives Portuguese companies, engineering centres, public bodies and academic institutions a role in a €1.07 billion EU effort to strengthen Europe’s defence industrial and technological base.

The Commission said €675 million of the funding will go to 32 development actions and €332 million to 25 research actions, covering 634 entities from 26 EU member states and Norway. Brussels linked the round to its Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030 and said more than 15 projects directly support four flagship readiness initiatives, including counter-drone capabilities, eastern flank surveillance, an air shield and a space shield.

Portugal’s participation spans underwater systems, drones, space, military software, advanced materials and air and land combat. The most prominent Portuguese role is in DEEP-TECH, a project on deep operations technologies and autonomous underwater infrastructure coordinated by INESC TEC and also involving A. Silva Matos Metalomecânica and the Portuguese Navy, with an estimated cost of €11.6 million. Portugal is also involved in larger programmes such as SPIDER2, an Airbus-led satellite constellation project with an estimated cost of €83.7 million, and EPIIC2, a next-generation combat cockpit project with an estimated cost of €66.2 million.

The Commission also highlighted the weight of smaller companies in this funding round, saying SMEs account for more than 38% of participants and receive more than 21% of total funding. But it does not provide a country-by-country funding breakdown, meaning the final amount that will flow to Portuguese participants cannot yet be measured in aggregate. (ECO)