Changes from plenary report to adopted text

270. Calls for the creation of a joint EU-NATO drone centre of excellence in a front line state with ongoing NATO Enhanced Forward Presence, active testing facilities and an active drone manufacturing hub to streamline joint exercises and interchangeability across the Member States;

271. Calls for the EU-NATO drone centre of excellence to cooperate with the PESCO project on military mobility and the European Air Transport Command to develop joint standards for the transport, refuelling and deployment of unmanned systems via military mobility corridors;

272. Underlines that such a centre must have a 360-degree approach, avoid duplication with existing NATO structures and focus on the rapid transfer of lessons learned from Ukraine;

273. Proposes the creation, by 2027, of a network of EU centres of excellence for drone operations, each specialising in a domain (e.g. loitering munitions, swarms, motherships, tactical UAS, maritime drones and counter-UASs), pooling national expertise and aligning with NATO centres of excellence and the EDA’s harmonised certification scheme;

Ukraine-NATO-EU knowledge transfer programmes

274. Calls for the institutionalisation of Ukraine-NATO-EU knowledge transfer programmes through rotational staff exchanges with UAF personnel and through the expansion of joint training programmes under the EUMS and its EU Cell at SHAPE; recommends the establishment of a permanent, jointly-funded EU-NATO-Ukraine training and logistics hub in a front line state to streamline operational planning, logistics and maintenance, with a focus on real-world drone survivability and innovation lessons;

275. Calls for EU-NATO cooperation in institutionalising the lessons learned from Ukraine’s battlefield experience by integrating doctrinal and technological innovations in modern combat conditions, in cooperation with the European Security and Defence College and the EUMS;

276. Invites the Member States to consider their engagement in training missions in Ukraine in order to fully absorb the expertise and innovative techniques possessed by the UAF;

277. Recommends that this cooperation should also include the exchange of operational experience on integrating drone units as independent branches of the armed forces, as recently demonstrated by Ukraine’s establishment of the Unmanned Systems Forces;

278. Calls for synergy between EU cooperation with Ukraine and the NATO-Ukraine Innovation Cooperation Roadmap as a key means of establishing closer ties between research institutions and defence industries, streamlining innovation pipelines and enabling rapid prototyping and deployment of drone-related systems;

279. Calls for annual joint drone doctrine integration exercises across CSDP operations and EU Battlegroups, coordinated through the Military Planning and Conduct Capability and evaluated in partnership with NATO’s Joint Force Command and Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre, to ensure doctrinal compatibility and operational realism;

280. Recommends launching joint EU-NATO exercises on drone swarm defence, electronic warfare resilience, low-cost kinetic effectors and directed-energy systems at multinational test ranges, with structured EU observer status and reciprocal access for EU-led initiatives;

281. Encourages the integration of UAS and C-UAS technologies into the structure of the EUMS and the Member States’ standing military exercises;

EU-NATO drone coordination cell

282. Calls for the establishment of a permanent EU-NATO drone coordination cell to bridge doctrinal and operational gaps between EU and NATO operations, with a permanent joint coordination cell within the EUMS tasked with synchronising drone doctrine, prioritising capability integration, and facilitating real-time information sharing between EU CSDP missions and NATO operations;

Establishing joint interoperability standards

283. Calls for a unified EU-NATO UAS interoperability standard designed for common communication protocols, classification systems for UAS/C-UAS, and data sharing formats designed to be binding for all CSDP missions and synchronised with NATO’s C-UAS doctrine to ensure seamless coordination in joint operations; stresses the importance of close cooperation between NATO and the EU to take advantage of the complementary roles of both organisations in strengthening Europe’s defence and deterrence; calls, in particular, on the Commission to propose legally binding instruments to ensure that NATO standards are followed;

284. Insists that EDF, EDIP and ReArm Europe funding be conditional on strict compliance with these standards to avoid vendor lock-in and maximise plug-and-play compatibility; encourages following the results of the Preparatory Action for Defence Research 2019 INTERACT – INTERoperability Standards for Unmanned Armed Forces Systems project as a best practice reference;

285. Calls for the institutionalisation of drone integration into CSDP missions, the establishment of joint interoperability standards with NATO, and the deployment of a layered defence approach to counter-UAS threats;

286. Recommends institutionalising joint C-UAS Testing at CSDP and NATO installations and innovation ranges;

287. Calls for the EU Sky Shield initiative to integrate C-UAS capabilities within the broader architecture of the European IAMD system;

288. Calls for the introduction of a CSDP ‘responsible use of technologies in defence’ framework, with input from the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, focusing on civilian harm mitigation, data protection, and accountability mechanisms;

289. Calls for EU-NATO cooperation in implementing NATO’s Rapid Adoption Action Plan, which aims accelerate national procurement processes; calls on Member States to reform acquisition cycles, including developing possible models for procuring UAVs as a service, testing protocols, and certification frameworks, to ensure that military innovation keeps pace with the threat environment; welcomes, in this regard, the upcoming proposal for an EU Defence Industry Transformation Roadmap;

290. Encourages the Commission and Member States to link the implementation of NATO’s Rapid Adoption Action Plan with the EU’s military mobility infrastructure projects, ensuring that newly developed drone systems can be rapidly transported and integrated into joint operations;

Ad-hoc strategic partnerships

Drone coalition

291. Supports EU cooperation with the International Drone Coalition to align battlefield procurement with EDF objectives; invites the Commission to explore co-financing with key partners to boost drone-related production, in synergy with EU industrial and technological initiatives;

292. Recognises the ongoing role the Drone Coalition plays in the standardisation of UAS, its critical aid to Ukraine and ensuring that Member States keep pace with fast changing requirements in the battlefield; encourages Member States to utilise this partnership to reduce lengthy procurement, clearances, development and testing requirements to aid in the speedy acquisition of UASs;

293. Supports EU cooperation with the International Drone Coalition and encourages Member States to join and actively contribute to the Coalition, which continues to purchase drones and support innovative developments to enhance Ukrainian forces’ battlefield capabilities; calls on Member States to align their battlefield procurement with Drone Coalition objectives; invites the Commission to explore co-financing possibilities with key partners to boost drone-related production, and promote industrial collaboration, in synergy with EU industrial and technological initiatives;

Security and defence partnership (SDP) cooperation

294. Encourages leveraging new EU strategic partnerships and security and defence partnership agreements to pursue a regulatory environment and procurement processes that coordinate and integrate with the current European ecosystem, whereby strategic partners bring needed critical capabilities and raw materials and emphasise joint development in propulsion, signal intelligence, EW, kinetic, laser development and mission critical software;

295. Highlights the importance of involving EU candidate countries that are fully aligned with the EU’s CSDP in European drone capacity building;

New bilateral agreements for drones

296. Recommends the establishment of bilateral agreements with non-EU strategic partners for secure co-production and technology transfer, using co-development and co-financing models to gain access to proven systems while building production capacity;

297. Emphasises that these agreements must include strict safeguards for intellectual property, and protect European industrial competitiveness and technological sovereignty and ensure interoperability with non-EU NATO forces, particularly non-EU Western European states;

298. Calls on the Commission to integrate willing Western Balkan countries into the Drone Wall project, alongside deeper cooperation in the fields of security and defence, including capacity-building, countering hybrid threats and protecting critical infrastructure;

299. Encourages the prioritisation of drone-specific assistance within the framework of the European Peace Facility and other relevant EU external action instruments, enabling partner countries to effectively address asymmetric threats and be better equipped for counterterrorism (CT) operations;

300. Recognises the significant progress and expertise of like-minded democratic partners in the Indo-Pacific, in drone and emerging technologies and in dual-use research; calls for enhancing security and defence cooperation and partnership with the EU’s Indo-Pacific partners, including Taiwan, particularly in drone technology and relevant industries; stresses the importance of building secure, non-red supply chains underpinned by democratic values to strengthen security and resilience;

301. Recommends the use of co-development and co-financing models with like-minded partners that do not contravene the security interests of the EU and its Member States to gain access to proven systems while building EU production capacity;

302. Calls on the Commission to ensure that new trade or political agreements of the EU with other countries, or possible modifications to existing ones, do not jeopardise access to key technologies for drone development or create vulnerable dependencies;

Cooperation with Ukraine

303. Highlights that, at the moment, the two countries with the most experience in drone warfare are Russia and Ukraine;

304. Urges the EU and its Member States to partner with Ukraine for all its drone-related initiatives, both as a way to accelerate drone development in the EU and to increase support to Ukraine; invites, in particular, the Member States to consider their engagement in training missions in Ukraine on drone and counter-drone warfare in order to fully absorb the expertise and innovative techniques possessed by the UAF;

305. Recommends the institutionalisation of knowledge sharing from Ukraine by developing formal exchange programmes between Ukrainian drone operators and EU/NATO trainers, coordinated via NATO’s Joint Analysis, Training and Education Centre, the NATO Security Assistance for Ukraine centre and the EDA, to ensure that battlefield-proven tactics are quickly internalised;

306. Recommends the establishment of a sustained and systematic exchange of best practices and trainings with Ukraine, integrating their operational and tactical military experience across multiple echelons, including at the strategic command level;

307. Calls for the inclusion of Ukrainian experts on governance boards, trial teams and in pilot training exchanges;

308. Calls for the establishment of a lessons learnt and coordination database with Ukrainian participation to collect battlefield data, publish validated tactics and update doctrines rapidly;

309. Calls on the EDA to establish an office in Ukraine, leveraging the existing EU Defence Innovation Office with an EDA attaché mandated to participate in Ukraine-Member State Working Groups to facilitate the sharing of best practices between Ukraine and Member States;

310. Encourages Ukraine to deploy more drone flight operators to EU and NATO training schools and programmes to expand the number of Member States Ukraine can collaborate with;

311. Recognises that Ukraine’s output of drones is severally hampered by capital investment and insists on the use of frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine’s drone development;

312. Urges the Commission, the Member States and their defence industries to support, invest in and partner with the Ukrainian defence industry in order to make full use of the potential of production capacities in Ukraine in the most efficient way, in line with the ‘Danish model’;

313. Encourages deepening industrial cooperation with Ukrainian drone manufacturers that are battle-tested, affordable and capable; urges the Member States and their defence industries to make additional investments, set-up joint ventures, and develop partnerships with Ukraine for the joint development of defence products in the EU, particularly in the areas of UAS and C-UAS;

314. Stresses the need to develop a long-term strategy to drive innovation and the development of drone capabilities after the end of the war in Ukraine, as drones will continue to be further employed in other global conflicts and that a narrow focus on the European theatre risks missing out on the ongoing global development and evolution of drone technologies;

Coordinating regulatory environment with strategic partners

315. Encourages the Member States to pursue a regulatory environment and procurement processes that coordinates and integrates the current European ecosystem with strategic partners such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Japan, particularly where they bring needed critical capabilities and raw materials, emphasising joint development in propulsion, EW, laser development and mission critical software;

316. Recognises the differences in regulatory frameworks between Member States and non-EU countries and encourages collaboration with other major drone-producing states to enhance regulatory alignment and support safer global UAS integration;

317. Highlights that the semiconductor ecosystem established by the Chip’s Act should also support the digital backbone of European drone corridors and military mobility infrastructure, enabling secure data exchange, sensor fusion, and AI-driven traffic coordination for both military and civilian unmanned systems;

318. Calls for a supply chain analysis and the onshoring of critical components necessary for long-term drone production capacities;

319. Stresses the importance of maintaining cooperation and the exchange of technical and operational experience in the design, production and operation of unmanned systems, including with partners outside the EU and NATO;

320. Underlines that such cooperation should include collaboration among engineers, mechatronics specialists, IT experts, and electronics and optoelectronics professionals, in order to enhance innovation, interoperability and technological development across the broader defence ecosystem;