If the European Union is serious about scaling up its defense industrial base, capitals need to be less wary of working closer together — especially if they want to deliver the most ambitious and larger projects, said Micael Johansson, president of the Aerospace, Security and Defense Industries in Europe (ASD) and CEO of Saab.
"We have identified these European defense projects of common interest, and still it's really hard to get that going because of national protection and sovereignty," he told The Parliament during the ASD Spring Convention in Lisbon in late April.
"It's not either or, it's yes I need to have this national sovereignty, but also we do this together."
Overcoming that tension is probably the most critical aspect if the EU is to rearm quickly and efficiently, he added.
Last year, member states committed to an €800 billion rearmament plan by 2030, while NATO allies pledged to raise defense spending to at least 5% of GDP by 2035. But decades of post-Cold War underinvestment mean the industry is struggling to deliver at scale.
Now the money is flowing and the demand signal is there, Johansson said, but the shift toward industrial scale can't happen overnight. "We hadn't had these sorts of large volume requirements in lots of what we've done, so defense industries haven't been experts in industrializing for high-volume production."
In Brussels, both NATO and the EU have signalled willingness to ramp up transatlantic defense capabilities and deter Russian military aggression by the end of the decade. In practice, however, no politician is ready to make a long-term commitment to the bloc's industry, Johansson said.
"Some companies, including Saab, are investing in facilities and factories that will be there for decades, but the backlog on high volume products is maybe three, four years," he said, calling for written commitments from national governments to sustain the required level of preparedness and production capacity.
A ‘coalition of the willing’ for defense
Defense largely remains a competence of member states, but within its limited role, the European Commission has proposed four major projects: an air defense shield, a “drone wall,” a space defence shield and the so-called Eastern Flank Watch.
By July, it also plans to push forward with a genuine single market for defense, arguing that fragmentation is costing member states up to 30% of their annual defense spending in lost efficiency.
Yet the bloc’s defense industry is wary about what could be perceived by member states as a “decision mandate” from the Commission.
Instead, Europe’s top defense industry chief said, the bloc should move towards a “coalition of the willing” where groups of countries and industries work together under the financial support of the EU budget, while avoiding Brussels overstepping its mandate.
"That is the way to do it," Johansson said, "to find a way of having member states deciding which countries, which industries should be involved in larger projects."
For the EU Executive’s arm, he added, “the key is to create incentives for collaboration, which they are actually providing.”
In recent years, the Commission has been working extensively on new programs and funding mechanisms to plug critical defense gaps, such as the €7.3 billion European Defense Fund, the €1.5 billion European Defense Industry Program and, most recently, the €115 million AGILE program, to help defense startups scale.
Beyond grants, Brussels has also made available €150 billion in low-interest defense loans, where at least 65% of component costs must be manufactured in the EU, Norway, Ukraine or other trusted partners.
However, it hasn’t yet agreed on a standard “buy European” preference for defense funding.
Over the last decades, Johansson said, European countries have had a rather "unbalanced" approach, directing much of their spending towards suppliers in the U.S. or South Korea. "A European preference is needed in a way that we change this balance."
According to the latest figures by SIPRI, the U.S. share of global arms imports stood at a mere 2.2% in 2025. So, Johansson said: "Why wouldn't we have 70% in the European perspective as a sovereign capability and still have a strong collaboration?"
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