The author of this article is Dr. Josef Demergis.

When talking about defense ecosystems, it is vital and politically prudent to actually talk about the social benefits of defence and the importance that the armed forces play in protecting a country’s citizens, safeguarding their well-being, responding to situations such as natural disasters, and also helping to both foster, enhance, and actually try to apply the broader foreign policy goals that are in place by a country’s government.

A sustainable defense ecosystem really needs a sustainable industry ecosystem. It also needs a sustainable finance framework to work with, which without it cannot possibly survive in the long run and will not also be able to produce in the same level that it is supposed to produce.

A defense ecosystem is also an exercise in strengthening technological excellence by shaping both the future of security, while enhancing the European Union’s capacity to both develop and deliver such a system, that is not only a system of security but also a system of security that will help it to grow.

Such an ecosystem is hampered by a lot of different parameters. One of the more essential parameters that it must be able to foreshadow, is the parameter of the critical raw materials usually used for certain products of the defense industry that are always a very difficult part of the equation.

Europe’s industrial base as regards to defence really has been out of step in being able to fulfill the security mission that has been set upon the European Union, and which has historically, since the first days of the European Union, been helped about by the existence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, NATO.

The industrial base of Europe has a two-fold challenge. One is to rapidly enhance its industrial output to meet both present and future security needs and demands. Secondly, to make sure that there is an enduring industrial capacity and responsiveness in the kind of systems and the best practices used to come up with suitable products for defence.

There must always be a continuous and extremely heavy investment in research and development in areas that have to do with defense and security research at both the national level and the European Union level.

It is, of course, necessary to both enhance the technological sovereignty present in many countries in critical areas, but on the other hand, try to partake of that kind of technological edge and disseminate it through the various countries within the EU.

Conflict itself and the defence industry, secondarily, always seek to push the boundaries of what is achievable, and therefore push the boundaries of both technology and of manufacturing, to reinforce the competitiveness of the defence sector, as well as trying to advance technologies that provide us with the security capabilities that are crucial to the defence mission.

Certain capabilities, such as artificial intelligence, cyber activities, while now being driven by commercial sectors, can rapidly be transformed into helping the defence sector as well.

It is therefore quite crucial to support ancillary technologies to the defence sector that may very well be used with little or no changes to serve the common security purpose.

Democracy cannot possibly be existent if no conditions of security are prevalent in the country where democracy is exercised.

Nevertheless, security is not something that is handed upon to us by our power and needs a constant control.

There is a constant rearrangement of both of our efforts and of the efforts against those risks that pose a hindrance to our well-being and to our lives.

Threats nowadays come from both state and non-state actors who often use very sophisticated means that are not just the purview of highly industrialized and technologically advanced nations. Such concepts as hybrid warfare are high on the agenda and may have a very crucial part to play.

Such challenges cannot possibly be tackled without the use of state-of-the-art technologies but also by trained personnel that has been trained in both handling technology and in the tactics and strategies that must be followed to employ it in a level that actually means business.

In order to have freedom, you do need a robust defense ecosystem and as far as the European Union is concerned, in order to have such an ecosystem you do have to both acquire, maintain and always improve the skillset of those working in that industry.

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia and the resultant security challenges that have come about for Europe is really a prime example of the difficulties Europe is facing in its strategic outlook of its position in the world.

We have many countries that despite all proclamations of having common goals and being of a common mind as far as the Union is concerned, have very different geopolitical interests and goals that they seek to serve.

The mentality is a self-serving one, but nevertheless, despite all the individual advantages one country seeks, or the advantages blocks of countries seek that have a direct correlation to their geopolitical interests, a common security and defence policy is not something that is impossible to attain.

NATO, for example, has shown us the way of how differences and geopolitical outlooks cannot be a hindrance, but be combined in creating a security framework that is stronger.

The war in Ukraine has also shown us that while lots of European countries have proclaimed to rearm themselves according to the danger they face, they nevertheless did not.

The US military industry was really the main recipient of most of the military hardware orders that have taken place since Russia’s invasion into Ukraine.

Talent engagement, skills forecasting, upskilling, reskilling, development for all the employees taking part in the EU defense ecosystem is something of a critical nature. Collective dissipation of the skills needed for Europe to face all the challenges in its future is of a paramount concern.

To build a robust and resilient defense ecosystem institutional level and sustainable governance is required. Such governance needs to both sustain change and to jumpstart and accelerate it when needed.

Advanced manufacturing methods like 3D printing, for example, that have made it possible to print the parts on demand, provide a very competitive advantage that nevertheless needs to be both sustained and advanced to a much larger scale for it to be really useful in the whole industry ecosystem.

Policy, tools and training need to be fused to prioritize the development of the industry. We need to be able to create a system that can sustain the industry, to optimize sustainment, to enable correct and useful weapon system designs, while also being able to both align and synchronize capabilities to system designs, in order for them to adopt new technologies and use improvements that deliver effective support to our ability to defend the European homeland.

We need to be able to create a system that can sustain the industry, to optimize maintenance, to offer the best possible performance, and to ensure that the industry is able to sustain itself.

An industry cannot possibly sustain itself without having countries sustaining it by actually ordering its products. That is an unavoidable and sometimes not palatable truth. But nevertheless, a truth it is.

One needs to take that into account while talking about future EU policy.

If there are no steps taken in implementing this kind of synergy between developing and actually producing such weapon systems in the number that will be useful to both countries and in sustaining the defence ecosystem, then the talk about having an ecosystem itself is a superfluous one.

In today’s highly industrialized and technological societies, economic wealth, resources, information, power, and the need to be able to sustain the defence ecosystem are not the only things that need to be done.

The two factors that need to be considered are the fact that the systems of power are both distributed and fused in creating both innovation and forms of political, financial, and military control.

While the importance of technology to being competitive in the military sense and being able to protect yourself, is something that is broadly accepted, nevertheless, its impact on the economic and trade sectors is a very important factor.

A very important factor is the fact that the systems of power are not just for the defence system. Sustainment and developing of skills is used rather innocuously to describe what is really a mission-oriented policy that targets a specific development and, in our case, in the defence sector, may perhaps target the development of particular technologies that both give rise to societal change and manage to appease technological and societal challenges.

A defence ecosystem that fosters innovation enables entrepreneurs, companies, research organizations, universities, academia in general, and both investors and governmental agencies to actually interact with each other in an effective manner.

It also helps to maximize both the economic impact and potential that the research and development that comes along with a successful defense ecosystem implies. Having clusters of industries that are in the defence sector, we can also use the civilian ecosystem to create a more efficient defence ecosystem.

A defence core system must be flexible, dynamic and open while being able to disseminate ideas and innovation but still protect its intellectual property.

Human history has shown us that during conflict innovation really scales up and shows its advantages.

War is the father of all things, proclaimed Heraclitus, and while war may not be necessary for economic growth, it nevertheless, as the joint venture of all dynamics present in a society in conflict, helps to foster innovation and direct application of the labors of the mind to the battlefield and to the security problem that is presented upon ourselves.