According to Financial Times, Europe’s defense industry facilities are expanding at three times the pace seen during peacetime. The total area of new industrial sites exceeds 7 million square meters, signaling an unprecedented arms build-up across the continent.
Analysis of radar and satellite data covering 150 facilities from 37 companies reveals that defense investments in Europe have surged following the Russia-Ukraine war. The findings show that Europe’s long-awaited defense push is materializing not just in budget plans and rhetoric but also in concrete structures on the ground.
This surge coincides with ongoing debates among European Union countries over continuing arms shipments to Kyiv while replenishing their own military stockpiles. Potential reductions in U.S. support further intensify these discussions.
Financial Times tracked changes in ammunition and missile production facilities—seen as two critical bottlenecks in Western support to Ukraine—through over 1,000 radar satellite passes. Data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites show that roughly one-third of the analyzed sites are undergoing expansion or new construction activities.
