The European Commission wants to see stronger EU-wide cooperation over malicious drones via a new action plan. Proposals include a central counter-drone test facility, changing the current rules governing civilian use, and a development boost to Europe’s own drones and counter-drone systems.
While EU countries suffer nothing like the constant drone attacks that Russia mounts against Ukraine, they are a stark reminder of the danger. Last year, drone incursions caused airport shutdowns in Oslo and Copenhagen, and it was suspected these came from Russia-owned ships passing through the strait between the two countries.
In response, the EC is unveiling its EU Action Plan aimed at countering the increasing threat to EU states from remotely operated aircraft.
This is described as an ambitious blueprint for stronger EU cooperation and solidarity, aimed at boosting detection capability, coordinating responses, and strengthening the region’s defense readiness.
The EC’s report notes that drones are evolving rapidly, with advances in speed, range, and payload, plus other aspects such as resistance to electronic countermeasures. Anti-drone systems must therefore keep pace with these developments.
The Commission proposes a new framework to boost development and production of drones and counter-drone systems. It says it will work with member states to define priorities regarding technologies and capacities to inform investment.
It also calls for new approaches to testing to move solutions from the lab to deployment faster. The EU will aim to build a network of multinational testing and expertise centers for drones across member states, and asks the latter to remove any obstacles that might prevent drone and counter-drone technologies being tested in specifically designated areas.
But perhaps most importantly, building these systems at scale will be key. The Commission says it aims to expand industry engagement by convening a drone and counter-drone Industrial Forum, building on the Drone Alliance initiative with Ukraine.
It also says it will assess the possibility of co-opting the forthcoming Industrial Accelerator Act, due for proposal later this month, and the European Defence Industry Programme to boost EU production of drone and counter-drone kit.
Existing rules on civilian use will be adapted to reflect new security realities, according to the EC. These will be addressed via a proposed Drone Security Package that will extend registration and identification requirements to all drones above 100 g (about 4 oz). It hopes to have this ready for approval by Q3 2026.
It will also support a more active implementation of U-space services, a European digital system developed to manage safe access to airspace for remotely operated systems. The EC also envisions an “EU Trusted Drone” scheme to identify secure equipment on the market.
The EU says it has already put in place a Critical Entities Resilience (CER) Directive, requiring member nations to have a national resilience strategy and conduct risk assessments on disruptive incidents. Now it wants to go further and is proposing stress tests to gauge the resilience of critical infrastructure against drone intrusion – if countries are willing, of course.
As for detecting and tracking drones, the EC says that Europe needs better situational awareness. This will mean integrating relevant data from existing sources into a single view. Based on frameworks such as U-space, it ought to be possible to establish systems to detect, track, and identify in near real time all legitimate drones.
The region’s telecoms networks can also play a part, detecting 5G-connected drones by identifying unusual SIM card identities, types of data transmission or activities, the report states. Networks should provide alerts on fast-moving assets, perhaps using AI-based automated detection and alert systems. However, this method of detection would rely on a strong partnership between national authorities,and telecoms operators, the EC says.
But 5G networks can also detect non-connected drones by using cell stations as if they were radar sensors, able to locate flying objects, including balloons, it claims. In the short term, this could be deployed to monitor certain locations such as critical infrastructure, but in the long term, it could complement existing military aerial surveillance systems.
The EC also wants to see broader cooperation between civilian and military bodies to counter drone threats. But it concedes that protecting facilities such as airports, seaports, and energy infrastructure from low-cost drones cannot rely on the military alone.
This will require relevant procedures and lines of communication to be established between all the actors, including at EU level, and to test this, it wants to see a yearly EU-level counter-drone exercise involving both civilian and military responses.
The Commission says it is also taking forward the European Drone Defence Initiative, which aims to build out capability and industrial efforts at EU level. This work will draw on Ukraine’s battlefield experience in areas of data management systems, including command and control, detection systems, and effector systems (the countermeasures).
“Drone and anti-drone capabilities are central components in defending Europe and securing critical infrastructure,” commented the Commission EVP for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen.
“Today, we are taking a major step toward enhancing security and developing these capabilities together with our member states. In the current geopolitical context, Europe must cultivate home-grown solutions to enhance its collective security. We have the talents, the technologies, and the industrial strength to protect our assets.”
With the EU Action Plan unveiled, the Commission will enter discussions with EU member states on the proposed actions, which it says should be seen as a dynamic process likely to be adapted to changing circumstances and threats. ®
