The key facts

  • The EP report on two 'valleys of death' was backed by more than 400 MEPs
  • The 'Readiness 2030' plan includes a €150 billion loan package
  • MEPs call for cutting bureaucracy and opening access to testing facilities

Two 'gaps' on the path of technology

European defence startups and small and medium-sized businesses go through two 'valleys of death' — critical periods when a company risks being left without funding before its product becomes commercially viable. This is stated in a report, supported by more than 400 members of the European Parliament, Euronews reports. The first gap lies between developing a new technology and proving its military effectiveness; the second, between validating the technology and acquiring customers.

What the MEPs propose

The report calls for adapting EU financial instruments to both gaps, so that successful projects receive support when signing their first contracts and subsequent orders from the armed forces of member states. Small companies need better access to testing facilities, military end users, and infrastructure for demonstrating, validating and certifying technologies. The authors also demand a reduction in bureaucracy and lengthy approval procedures that put small businesses at a disadvantage compared with large, established contractors.

The rearmament context

The report emerged against the backdrop of the European Commission's 'Readiness 2030' plan, which envisages the production of strategic systems — air and missile defence, artillery, missiles, ammunition and counter-drone capabilities — backed by a €150 billion loan package. According to Euronews, Western intelligence agencies called 2029 the year when Russia could attack NATO, of which 23 of the EU's 27 countries are members. At the same time, as Riho Terras, a former commander of the Estonian army and MEP from the European People's Party, noted at the Euronews summit on defence and space in September, Europe's defence industry is not yet ready to produce what is needed 'in the volumes, at the speed and with the quality that our armed forces require'. The report's rapporteur, Latvian Green MEP Mārtiņš Staķis, stated: 'Our defence systems are still built for yesterday's wars and are afraid of failure.'