The European Commission has announced a new €115 million funding instrument, AGILE, designed to rapidly bring disruptive defence technologies from the lab to operational use. The pilot programme aims to accelerate the development, testing, and market deployment of innovations such as artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and drones, with a focus on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including start-ups and scale-ups.
The conflict in Ukraine has highlighted the importance of short innovation cycles, where success on the battlefield depends on the ability to develop, test, and deploy technologies within weeks or months rather than years. AGILE is intended for these fast-moving defence innovators, providing flexible and rapid funding to ensure technologies reach armed forces within one to three years, with a target time-to-grant of just four months.
The programme will support between 20 and 30 projects, offering up to 100% funding for eligible costs. It includes a retroactive clause allowing companies to claim expenses incurred up to three months prior to the call’s closing, facilitating rapid innovation. AGILE will focus on two core activities: mission-driven development of disruptive defence products and technologies, and market delivery to help defence solutions reach operational markets.
AGILE will align with the most urgent needs of EU Member States, ensuring that European defence capabilities remain both innovative and ready to respond to emerging threats. The European Commission will present a Regulation to establish AGILE to the European Parliament and the Council, with the instrument expected to become operational in early 2027.
This initiative builds on the EU’s existing defence research and development framework, including the European Defence Fund (EDF), the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS), and the Hub for EU Defence Innovation (HEDI). While these instruments support collaborative innovation, AGILE aims to complement them with a faster, more agile mechanism. Recent EU strategies, such as the Preserving Peace – Readiness Roadmap 2030, the White Paper for the Future of European Defence, and the EU Defence Industry Transformation Roadmap, emphasize the need for speed, agility, and risk-taking in the defence sector, laying the groundwork for the AGILE programme.
