Defence Spending Alone Cannot Produce European Defence Integration

On the 9th and 10th of September 2025, roughly twenty Russian drones intruded upon Polish national airspace, calling for a NATO response involving air-defences from several allies – this scramble exposes how the EU relies on NATO and individual national capabilities for rapid and coordinated defences rather than a stable and unified infrastructure.

Is HYDEF, the EU’s Hypersonic Interception Programme, Still Making Progress?

Russia perpetrated yet another heavy attack targeting Kyiv on May 24th, firing some 600 drones and 90 missiles including hypersonic Kinzhal and Zircon missiles. As EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has said, “Russia hit a dead end on the battlefield, so it terrorizes Ukraine with deliberate strikes on city centres.” A tactic made easier by Ukraine’s lack of air defence systems that can reliably intercept hypersonic missiles – Europe has the same problem. Could the EU’s Hypersonic Defence Interceptor Programme (HYDEF) help to solve this challenge?

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