European Commission Launches Comprehensive Action Plan on Drone and Counter-Drone Security

New EU framework to strengthen collective preparedness, critical infrastructure protection, and public safety capabilities across Member States.

The European Commission has unveiled a new EU Action Plan on Drone and Counter-Drone Security, marking a significant step forward in Europe's collective response to the rapidly evolving threat landscape posed by unmanned aerial systems. The plan establishes a structured, four-pillar approach — Prepare, Detect, Respond, and Strengthen — designed to enhance resilience and coordination across all EU Member States.

The Action Plan comes at a critical moment. In recent years, the EU has faced growing and multi-faceted challenges relating to drones and meteorological balloons, including hostile overflights, airspace violations, disruptions to airports, and escalating risks to critical infrastructure, external borders, and public spaces. The increasing use of drone swarms in particular has added a new dimension of complexity to threat response.

Prepare: Building Resilience and Industrial Capacity

The Commission is taking a coordinated approach to technological development and rapid industrial production, including a civil-military industrial mapping exercise to attract investment and foster interoperability, and the establishment of a new EU Counter-Drone Centre of Excellence with a dedicated certification scheme for counter-drone systems. A Drone and Counter-drone Industry Forum will foster dialogue with industrial actors with a view to scaling up production.
Alongside this, the Commission will introduce a Drone Security Package to revamp existing civilian drone regulations and adapt them to current security realities. This includes coordinated risk assessments to protect technology supply chains and the launch of an 'EU Trusted Drone' label to identify secure equipment on the market — a development with significant procurement implications for public safety agencies evaluating drone platforms.

Detect: Leveraging 5G and AI for Real-Time Airspace Intelligence

The detection pillar addresses one of the most operationally demanding challenges facing public safety agencies: differentiating legitimate drone activity from malicious incursions. The Commission will support the emergence of single air display systems integrating all relevant data sources, and explore with Member States the progressive establishment of a Drone Incident Platform providing shared situational awareness across borders.

Critically, the Action Plan identifies 5G networks as an urgent priority for drone detection — covering both connected and non-connected drones. The Commission will launch a call for expressions of interest from Member States and industry to support rapid deployment and live testing of 5G-based detection systems. These networks offer precise, real-time tracking of flying objects, providing the kind of high-fidelity situational picture that is essential for operational decision-making in public safety environments.

Respond: Coordinated Counter-Drone Deployment and AI-Powered Command and Control

While Member States retain primary responsibility for response measures, the Commission is establishing clear EU-level added value. A coordinated public procurement initiative will allow interested countries to join forces in the deployment of counter-drone systems. The Commission will also support the development of sovereign European, AI-powered Command and Control systems and explore the creation of Rapid Counter-Drone Emergency Response teams to strengthen solidarity between Member States.

An annual large-scale EU counter-drone exercise will stress-test cross-border cooperation and civilian-military synergies. Frontex will be equipped with the drones and technology needed for border surveillance and will provide practical guidance on layered deployment models and cross-border incident handling.

Strengthen: Defence Readiness and the EU Drone Alliance with Ukraine

The fourth pillar reinforces Europe's military readiness through innovation and industrial cooperation, including securing supply chains for critical raw materials. The Commission will accelerate the development of affordable defence technology through the EU Drone Alliance with Ukraine, forming the basis of the European Drone Defence Initiative and the Eastern Flank Watch initiative — a flagship project under the Defence Readiness Roadmap 2030. EU funding through Horizon Europe, the European Defence Fund, the Border Management and Visa Instrument, and SAFE loans will continue to support Member States financially across all dimensions.

What This Means for Public Safety Agencies

For emergency services, law enforcement, and first responder organisations across Europe, this Action Plan carries direct and far-reaching implications.

The establishment of a common EU drone incident monitoring platform will, for the first time, give public safety agencies access to aggregated, real-time airspace intelligence — a capability that has long been fragmented across national and local jurisdictions. This single air display approach will significantly improve situational awareness during major incidents, mass gatherings, and critical infrastructure protection operations.

The integration of 5G networks into drone detection frameworks is particularly significant for mission-critical communications users. As public safety agencies continue their migration toward broadband MCX networks, the convergence of 5G-based drone detection with existing critical communications infrastructure creates new possibilities for integrated command and control. Agencies that have already invested in 5G-capable platforms will be well-positioned to benefit from these developments.
The introduction of the EU Trusted Drone label provides procurement teams with a clearer framework for evaluating drone platforms against security standards — reducing the risk of deploying equipment with compromised supply chains in sensitive operational environments.

The emphasis on AI-powered counter-drone solutions and sovereign European Command and Control systems reflects a broader shift in public safety operations, where automated threat detection and classification are becoming essential tools for stretched operational teams. The proposed annual EU-level large-scale exercises will provide agencies with valuable opportunities to test interoperability and refine cross-border response protocols in realistic conditions.

For national coordinators and policymakers, the Commission's proposal that Member States appoint National Drone Security Coordinators signals a clear expectation that drone security governance will be embedded at the highest levels of national public safety architecture. Agencies that have not yet developed dedicated drone and counter-drone policies should treat this Action Plan as both an endorsement and an accelerant for doing so.

The inclusion of the EU Drone Alliance with Ukraine also points to a longer-term strategic dimension, as operational lessons from conflict environments increasingly inform civilian public safety preparedness across the continent.