The European Commission and Bpifrance, France’s state investment bank, launched a programme on November 3 to pair French companies with Ukrainian defense startups. It is backed by €150 million (about $168 million) in EU guarantees, and Reuters reported that the organisers want 30 French-Ukrainian partnerships over the next three years.
The target sectors include drones, communications, navigation systems, space technology and critical components. The money runs through the Ukraine Investment Framework, the investment arm of the EU’s Ukraine Facility, which opened to dual-use technology in November 2025.
The Commission’s own description of the programme, presented in Kyiv in July, puts the financing it should unlock at about €478 million. Its loan instrument pays for contracts with French and other EU companies, and the borrowers are Ukrainian businesses.
Bpifrance’s Loans Cover Up to 85% of Contracts With EU Suppliers
Ukrainian companies, private or state-owned, can borrow up to 85% of a commercial contract with a French or other EU supplier and pay 15% down, according to the Commission’s overview of dual-use programmes. The Commission says the dual-use financing aims to integrate Ukraine into EU value chains.
A grant worth about 10% of the project cost can be added for capital goods. The other instruments are political-risk insurance for equity and long-term loans, covering risks including expropriation, asset destruction and non-payment, plus stakes in dual-use venture funds and direct minority stakes through Bpifrance’s Build-up International fund in the Ukrainian subsidiaries of EU companies.
The Commission’s sector list is more specific than the launch announcement. It names unmanned ground vehicles and robotic systems for civil protection, drones and anti-drone systems, acoustics technology, connectivity networks, thermal batteries and generators. Bpifrance’s EuroQuity platform and its European Defence Alliance will give startups investor introductions and coaching.
Reuters described the grants as €13 million a year. The July overview gives a €10 million grant and €3 million of technical assistance with no annual figure, and it predates the November 3 launch.
Bpifrance’s Line Should Unlock More Than Any Other EU Dual-Use Program
Of the six Ukraine Facility programmes the Commission lists for Ukraine’s dual-use sector, Bpifrance’s is expected to unlock the most financing. The figure is about €478 million. By guarantee size it ranks third at €150 million, behind Finland’s Finnvera at €180 million and Poland’s BGK at €175 million.
Ukraine’s National Development Institution runs the next-largest line, about €400 million in loans backed by a €140 million guarantee, in a programme the Defence Ministry coordinates. Companies registered in Ukraine or the EU can apply to all six. Kyiv’s own Brave1 missile and radar grants, opened last week, accept only companies registered in Ukraine.
Most of the six lines are guarantees that de-risk lending. EU drone procurement money for Kyiv comes from the €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan, which paid out €1 billion for drones in July, the week the Commission launched the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance. The French drone maker Delair sits on that alliance’s founding board.
DroneXL’s Take
This is industrial policy for Europe as much as support for Ukraine, and I don’t hold that against it. A Ukrainian drone startup that signs with a French partner gets a buyer’s loan for European equipment, political-risk cover that makes the partner willing to invest, and access to Bpifrance’s investor network. Europe gets Ukrainian battlefield know-how inside its own supply chain. That trade suits both sides better than another round of grants would, because a guarantee keeps working as long as the loans get repaid. Bpifrance now has three years to turn €150 million in guarantees into 30 partnerships, and I’ll judge the programme by how much of the €478 million it actually lends.
Sources: European Commission, Opportunities for Investment in Dual-Use Technologies, Reuters, European Commission, Ukraine Facility dual-use announcement.
DroneXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo. Read our editorial standards.
