Abstract
<jats:p>The European Defence Industry Programme commits €1.5 billion to capitalise defence production capacity over 2025–2027, with approximately €232 million directly addressing unmanned systems. Three structural contradictions define the cycle: a regulatory paradox in which representative European tactical ISR drones cannot meet the 65/35 origin rule the programme imposes; a hardware-centric funding architecture that excludes software-first defence firms from a native EDIP pathway; and a temporal gap between EDIP expiry at end-2027 and the operationalisation of any successor instrument. This Technical Brief catalogues the eight EDIP 2026–2027 calls of UAS relevance, the three eligibility gates that determine consortium viability, and the four-instrument architecture connecting EDIP to EDF, SAFE, and DEF 2.0. The first UAS deadlines fall in October 2026.</jats:p>