An overview of the defence industry of EU member states – land force systems
Abstract
The study examines the industrial and capacity situation of EU member states’ land weapon systems (main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, towed and self‑propelled artillery and multiple rocket launchers), based on open‑source data available up to March 2025. It highlights the logistical and sustainability burdens stemming from platform diversity and the legacy of “Soviet inheritance”, as well as critical supply‑chain dependencies. Its main conclusion is that the EU’s strategic autonomy requires structural rationalisation of land systems, deepening of cooperative development programmes and the targeted expansion of defence‑industrial manufacturing capacities.
References
Army Recognition 2024. Germany Strengthens Ukraine’s Infantry Units with New Delivery of 20 Marder 1A3 IFVs, Army Recognition Group https://www.armyrecognition.com/archives/archives-land-defense/land-defense-2024/germany-strengthens-ukraines-infantry-units-with-new-delivery-of-20-marder-1a3-ifvs (Letöltés ideje: 2026. 03. 17.)
Army Technology 2024. EuroPULS Rocket Artillery System, Israel, Army Technology https://www.army-technology.com/projects/europuls-rocket-artillery-system-israel/ (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 07.)
Auran, Jean 2024. European Artillery Options, European Security & Defence, 2024. június 28., https://euro-sd.com/2024/06/articles/39046/european-artillery-options/ (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 07.)
Bányász Eszter 2023. Indulhat a Hiúzok gyártása hazánkban, Honvedelem.hu, 2023. augusztus 18., https://honvedelem.hu/hirek/indulhat-a-hiuzok-gyartasa-hazankban.html (Letöltés ideje: 2026. 03. 17.)
Benedict, Wilkinson 2020. Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union: The EU’s Defence Technological and Industrial Base: In Depth Analysis (European Parliament, 2020) https://doi.org/10.2861/048197
Bondarenko, Mykola – Habrinets, Volodymyr – Vorobei, Mykhailo 2024. Evolution of Multiple Launch Rocket Systems from Early Rockets to HIMARS and Beyond, Challenges and Issues of Modern Science 3 (2024. november): 23–34. https://purl.org/cims/2403.003
Chassillan, Marc 2022. The Main Ground Combat System (MGCS): What now?, Revue Défense Nationale 846, sz. 1, 87–92, https://doi.org/10.3917/rdna.846.0087
CZDEFENCE 2025. First CV90 Tracked IFV for the Czech Army Completed, CZDEFENCE, 2025. augusztus 28., https://www.czdefence.cz/clanek/prvni-pasove-bvp-cv90-pro-armadu-cr-je-na-svete
(Letöltés ideje: 2026. 03. 17.)
Defense Archives 2024. Puma, the Modern German Infantry Fighting Vehicle, Defense Archives, 2024. október 23. https://defensearchives.com/editorials/puma-the-modern-german-infantry-fighting-vehicle/ (Letöltés ideje: 2026. 03. 17.)
Európai Bizottság 2024. Labour and Skills Shortages in the EU: An Action Plan, Európai Bizottság, 2024. március 20. https://ec.europa.eu/social/BlobServlet?docId=27473&langId=en (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 02. 25.)
Európai Bizottság 2024. Selected Projects EDIRPA 2024 – CAVS, Európai Unió, https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/ff0f1790-9169-4dec-bb56-93312763e01e_en?filename=EDIRPA%20CAVS.pdf (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 04.)
Európai Bizottság: Új európai védelmi ipari stratégia 2024. A védelmi készültség elérése egy reagálóképesebb és reziliensebb európai védelmi iparral, Európai Bizottság, 2024. március 5. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=celex:52024JC0010 (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 02. 17.)
Európai Unió 2023. Az Európai Parlament és a Tanács (EU) 2023/1525 rendelete (2023. július 20.) a lőszergyártás támogatásáról (ASAP), Az Európai Unió Hivatalos Lapja http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/1525/oj
Európai Unió 2023. Az Európai Parlament És a Tanács (EU) 2023/2418 Rendelete (2023. október 18.) Az Európai Védelmi Ipar Közös Beszerzés Révén Történő Megerősítését Szolgáló Eszköz Létrehozásáról (EDIRPA), Az Európai Unió Hivatalos Lapja http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2418/oj
Faure, Samuel B. H. 2025. EU Defence Industrial Policy: Towards a New European Military-Industrial Regime?, no. 2/2025, LUHNIP Working Paper Series (Luiss Institute for European Analysis and Policy, 2025), 1–17, https://leap.luiss.it/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/WP2.25-EU-Defence-Policy.pdf (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 02. 25.)
Fiott, Daniel 2017. Towards a ‘Military Schengen’?, Brief Issue (European Union Institute for Security Studies, 2017), 1–4. https://www.jstor.org/stable/resrep17450 (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 07.)
Foss, Christopher F. 2020. European Infantry Fighting Vehicle Armament, Industry, European Security & Defence, 2020. szeptember 7. https://euro-sd.com/2020/09/articles/industry/18846/european-infantry-fighting-vehicle-armament/ (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 04.)
Global Firepower 2025. Combat Tank Fleet Strength by Country (2025), Global Firepower https://www.globalfirepower.com/armor-tanks-total.php (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 04. 28.)
Gouveia, Humberto – Borges, Jose 2022. The Future of Field Artillery Projectiles: New Technologies, Strengths and Challenges, In: Rocha, Álvaro – Fajardo-Toro, Carlos Hernan – Riola, José María (szerk.): Developments and Advances in Defense and Security, Smart Innovation, Systems and Technologies (Springer Nature, 2022) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7689-6_30
Gouveia, Humberto – Freitas, Ricardo 2024. Innovations and trends in field artillery weapon systems, Cogent Social Sciences 10, sz. 1: 2411867, https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2024.2411867
Hollunder, Johannes – Klose, Julian 2023. Panther Trumps Leopard: The Arms Deal between Poland and South Korea and its Implications, EPIS Magazine, sz. 1 (2023. március): 30–41., https://doi.org/10.69790/epis01.18340
Jakobsen, Eskil – Ålander, Minna – Svendsen, Øyvind 2023. Germany’s Zeitenwende in Foreign and Security Policy: Domestic Developments and Alliance Dynamics after One Year, Policy Brief no. 6/2023 (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, 2023) https://www.nupi.no/content/pdf_preview/26979/file/NUPI_Policy_Brief_6_2023_Jakobsen_A%CC%8Alander_Svendsen.pdf (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 04.)
Ocskay István 2022. A Párduc harckocsi újjászületése: A Panther KF51, Haditechnika 56, sz. 6: 33–39, https://doi.org/10.23713/HT.56.6.06
Petit, Pierre 2021. Le VBCI: Un guerrier sans nom, DSI (Défense et Sécurité Internationale) (Mumbai, India), sz. 152: 98–103. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48615554
Quendt, Thorsten 2019. The Cost of European Military Procurement Fragmentation Exemplified by Main Battle Tanks, Canadian Forces College, https://www.cfc.forces.gc.ca/259/290/405/305/quendt.pdf, (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 04.)
Sabatino, Ester 2020. EU Defence: Franco-German Cooperation and Europe’s Next Generation Battle Tank, Text, IAI Istituto Affari Internazionali, 2020. augusztus 7., https://www.iai.it/en/pubblicazioni/c05/eu-defence-franco-german-cooperation-and-europes-next-generation-battle-tank (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 04.)
Sabatino, Ester 2020. The Industrial Land Sector and European Defence Cooperation, In: Marrone, Alessandro – Sabatino, Ester (szerk.): Main Battle Tanks, Europe and the Implications for Italy, (Istituto Affari Internazionali, 2020), https://www.iai.it/sites/default/files/iai2007.pdf
Salunkhe, Sachin – Rajamani, Devaraj 2023. Current trends of metal additive manufacturing in the defense, automobile, and aerospace industries, In: Salunkhe, Sachin – Amancio-Filho, Sergio T. – Davim, J. Paulo (szerk.): Advances in Metal Additive Manufacturing, Woodhead Publishing Reviews: Mechanical Engineering Series (Woodhead Publishing, 2023), https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-323-91230-3.00004-4
Sánta György 2025. Német-francia következő generációs harckocsiprogram, Haditechnika 59, sz. 2: 33–39., https://doi.org/10.23713/HT.59.2.06
Šiška, Martin 2022. Army Orders Spare Parts for T-72 Tanks and BVP-2 Infantry Fighting Vehicles, CZ Defence, https://www.czdefence.cz/clanek/armada-objednava-nahradni-dily-pro-tanky-t-72-a-bvp-2 (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 07.)
Soler, Paula 2025. "Skilled workers wanted": The EU’s defence industry struggles to find the right talent, Euronews, https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/02/26/skilled-workers-wanted-the-eus-defence-industry-struggles-to-find-the-right-talent (Letöltés ideje: 2025. 03. 07.)
Stefanovich, Dmitry V. – Ermakov, Alexander S. 2023. Guns Before Butter – A New Reality?, Russia in Global Affairs 21, sz. 4: 24–46., https://doi.org/10.31278/1810-6374-2023-21-4-24-46
Suorsa, Olli Pekka – Cannon, Brendon J. 2025. Ensuring security of supply: Pragmatic defence autarky and Finland’s defence industry, Defence Studies (London, United Kingdom) 25, sz. 2: 258–278., https://doi.org/10.1080/14702436.2025.2472696
Świętochowski, Norbert – Rewak, Dariusz 2021. The Role and Place of Artillery in Combating “Anti-Access/Area Denial” A2/AD Systems, Scientific Journal of the Military University of Land Forces 200, sz. 2: 387–401., https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0014.9797
Świętochowski, Norbert 2023. Field Artillery in the Defensive War of Ukraine 2022-2023. Part I, Combat Potential, Tasks and Tactics, Scientific Journal of the Military University of Land Forces 55, sz. 4(210): 341–358., https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0054.1631
The International Institute for Strategic Studies, Chapter Three 2024. Europe, The Military Balance 124, sz. 1: 54–157., https://doi.org/10.1080/04597222.2024.2298591
Vlaskamp, Martijn C. 2025. Looking for Resource Sovereignty in a Fragmenting Global Order: The EU’s Response to Critical Raw Materials Challenges, In: Costa, Oriol – Soler i Lecha Eduard – Vlaskamp, Martijn C. (szerk.): EU Foreign Policy in a Fragmenting International Order, (Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64060-5_6

