Defence research spending falling far short

Europe’s spending on defence research and technology still less than half the agreed target

More than 10 years after the 27 member countries of the European Defence Agency agreed to raise their spending on defence research and technology to 2 per cent of their total defence budget, their average spending still languished at a mere 0.9 per cent in 2018, the EDA has reported.

Research and technology is among several important defence spending areas in which EDA members have failed to meet their longstanding targets, the agency set out in its annual report for 2017-2018, published on 16 December.