Europe Accelerates Drone Investment as Defense Spending Shifts Toward Autonomous Systems

According to CNBC, Europe is rapidly increasing investment in drone technology as a central component of future defense strategy, with a series of announcements over the past two weeks highlighting the shift. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said the alliance would become "drone-ready" and that allies would invest more than $40 billion in counter-drone capabilities over the next five years, noting drones have "fundamentally altered" modern warfare. The U.K. committed £5 billion ($6.7 billion) to a "UK drone transformation" program under its Defence Investment Plan published in late June. Germany moved to procure 50,000 drones for Ukraine through a 90-million-euro order placed by defense software company Auterion and Ukrainian drone maker Skyfall with a European NATO member, which a source confirmed to CNBC was Germany. Defense tech startup Helsing secured an $18 billion valuation in a funding round announced Monday. Morningstar analyst Loredana Muharremi said future defense is moving toward a layered battlefield where tanks will launch drones and operate as part of a networked force, and that companies with scale in autonomy, air defense, sensors, electronic warfare, software, and space are likely to capture future defense spending. European core defense spending has doubled since 2019 and could reach about 800 billion euros by 2030 under NATO's 3.5% target for 2035, according to McKinsey. Venture capital investment in defense technology more than doubled year on year in 2025, with European defense tech funding rising from around 200 million euros in 2021 to 2.6 billion euros in 2025.