Visibility, supply chain, innovation: What defence executives need from Europe

Europe’s defence industry is ready to ramp up production to secure the Old Continent but it needs governments to be faster and smarter with procurement practices to address potential shortages issues, top executives at Kongsberg told Euronews.

The EU is in the midst of a deep rethink of its defence strategy with leaders hammering out how to inject the €500 billion the bloc needs over the coming decade to upgrade its military capabilities and plug the gaps in its defence that the conflict in Ukraine has starkly exposed. Neighbouring countries and allies, including the UK and Norway, are doing the same.

Among the capabilities EU leaders have repeatedly put at the top of their wish lists are air defence systems and ammunition — which the bloc’s failure to fulfill its pledge last year to deliver one million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine within 12 months made all the more urgent. 

“We are not the limiting factor in producing air defence systems,” Eirik Lie, President of Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace AS, told Euronews in an interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

“We can produce two NASAMS batteries per month so that’s not the problem. The problem is to have the long-lead items and the supply chain providing these items,” he added.

The Norwegian company, which produces two different types of air defence systems, including the NASAMS, as well as strike missiles among other capabilities, reported operating revenues of €4.35 billion in 2024, a 20% increase on the previous year, and finished the year with a record order backlog worth €11.39 billion.

According to a ranking of global defence companies released by SIPRI in 2023, it ranks 80th in the world in terms of revenues.

In 2024, it struck procurement