Changes from report parliamentary committee draft to plenary report

Added289. 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;

Added290. 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

Change 6

AddedDrone 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;

Change 7

Removed31. Encourages utilising 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, EW, laser development and mission-critical software;

Added292. 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;

Added293. 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;

AddedSecurity and defence partnership (SDP) cooperation

Added294. 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;

Added295. Highlights the importance of involving EU candidate countries that are fully aligned with the EU’s CSDP in European drone capacity building;

AddedNew 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;

Change 8

Removed33. Calls for greater synergy between the Regulation (EU) 2023/1781 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 establishing a framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s semiconductor ecosystem and amending Regulation (EU) 2021/694 (Chips Act)and EU defence funding initiatives through the use of the act’s ‘Chips for Europe Initiative’ and the European Semiconductor Board to aid further development of semiconductor manufacturing among the Member States;

Added297. 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;

Added298. 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;

Added299. 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;

Added300. 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;

Added301. 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;

Added302. 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;

AddedCooperation with Ukraine

Added303. Highlights that, at the moment, the two countries with the most experience in drone warfare are Russia and Ukraine;

Added304. 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;

Added305. 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;

Added306. 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;

Added307. Calls for the inclusion of Ukrainian experts on governance boards, trial teams and in pilot training exchanges;

Added308. 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;

Added309. 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;

Added310. 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;

Added311. 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;

Added312. 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’;

Added313. 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;

Added314. 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;

AddedCoordinating regulatory environment with strategic partners

Added315. 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;

Added316. 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;

Added317. 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;

Added318. Calls for a supply chain analysis and the onshoring of critical components necessary for long-term drone production capacities;

Added319. 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;

Added320. 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;

Added321. Calls for greater synergy between the Chips Act and EU defence funding initiatives through the use of the Act’s Chips for Europe Initiative and the European Semiconductor Board to aid further development of semiconductor manufacturing among the Member States;

Drones and counter-terrorism operations outside the EU

Change 9

Removed34. Calls for the establishment of a modular C-UAS training curriculum for Counter Terrorism (CT) units, covering drone recognition, interdiction techniques, and red team simulations;

AddedIntegrate C-UAS into EU counter-terrorism exercises

Change 10

Changed35.322. Calls for the incorporationestablishment of C-UASa doctrinemodular intoC-UAS jointtraining EUcurriculum for CT exercisesunits, undercovering thedrone EDArecognition, interdiction techniques and FRONTEX;red team simulations;

Change 11

Changed36.323. Calls for the fundingincorporation of C-UAS doctrine into joint procurementEU andCT researchexercises andunder developmentthe forEDA C-UASand systemsFrontex; viaunderlines the EDF,importance withof priorityintelligence-sharing forwith rapidlyNATO deployableand mobilestrategic solutionspartners suitableto foranticipate expeditionarythe CTterrorist operationsuse uponof request;drones;

Change 12

Added324. Encourages the use of drones in EU missions and FRONTEX border operations to monitor suspected terrorist movements, smuggling and trafficking routes, and areas of migratory pressure; notes that UASs offer high-resolution imagery, and thermal, multispectral and synthetic aperture radar sensors that can penetrate cloud cover or darkness, enabling the detection of suspicious movement or vehicles; notes that in conflict-affected or remote border zones, drones can provide persistent, low-risk intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities far beyond what current manned or ground-based platforms can achieve, with their data directly contributing to intelligence fusion, border command and control, and rapid decision-making;

Added325. Highlights the important role of surveillance drones in EU border security, but also warns that drones have the potential to become an instrumental and irreplaceable tool for smuggling operations; urges the Member States to integrate drone-specific response protocols into national resilience plans; calls for the inclusion of border control and law enforcement officers in drone operation and interception training;

Added326. Calls for the funding of joint procurement and research and development for C-UAS systems via the EDF, with priority for rapidly deployable mobile solutions suitable for expeditionary CT operations on request;

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327. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the European Council, the Council, the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the President of the Commission and competent commissioners, the UN Secretary-General, the NATO Secretary-General, the President of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, EU security and defence agencies and the governments and parliaments of the Member States.