BLUF: Negotiators in the European Parliament will present early agreements from closed-door talks on the EU’s military mobility overhaul. These include allowing Ukraine and Moldova to join a pool of shared transport capabilities.
As part of its joint BraveTech EU with Ukraine, the EU has opened applications for the first field tests of defense technologies.
Norwegian startup Stendr is preparing its first field tests for low-cost multi-sensor drone detection devices that can complement other systems, such as radar, CEO Aleksander Larsen told The Arsenal. The company raised $5.4 million (€4.6 million) in seed funding.
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Patrick Shepherd has announced he’s leaving his position as the Helsinki-based chief sales officer of Estonian miltech firm Milrem Robotics. Shepherd told The Arsenal he’s joining a Finland-based startup working on defense AI. Details will be announced later this week, he said.
Karl Eze has joined Croatian drone manufacturer Orqa FPV as director of capability development. Eze was previously managing director and co-founder of Point Zenith, a London-based drone services firm that’s now being liquidated.
Neal Melvin has left the Royal United Services Institute in London and joined the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm as head of its Arctic and High North program.
Belén Martínez Carbonell, secretary-general of the European External Action Service—the EU’s diplomatic service—has told colleagues she’s stepping down little more than a year after taking office, according to Politico.
French defense prime Thales is hiring a head of public affairs for Belgium and Luxembourg, to be based in Belgium.
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The European Commission has published a call for drone warfare experts to apply to become founding members of the EU-Ukraine Drone Alliance, an industry-led initiative for drone and counter-drone capabilities. The deadline is 25 May at 23:59 Brussels time.
The EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS) will run an online webinar on Wednesday, 5 May for those interested in becoming local organizers for the next round of EUDIS hackathons during 15-17 October. You can apply to become a local organizer via the EUDIS website.
Irish ministers have approved legal amendments, proposed by Enterprise Minister Peter Burke, to allow state agencies Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland to invest in defense SMEs without needing government approval, according to a statement.
The German government has cast doubt on reports that the US withdrawal of 5,000 troops from Germany also includes canceling planned weapons deployments, particularly Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles. A German defense ministry spokesman said there had been no “definitive cancelation” and that the weapons “may well still be” deployed, Reuters reports.
The US has also warned that deliveries of Patriot interceptor missiles to Europe would be delayed, the Financial Times reports.
Europe’s largest car port, Bremerhaven in northwestern Germany, is being upgraded to allow transport of 60-ton Leopard tanks, Bloomberg reports.
Rheinmetall’s revenues for the first quarter of 2026 were below expectations, with increased defense spending not translating into enough orders for the German defense giant, the Financial Times reports.
CORRECTION: The Arsenal made a mistake in the original version of the newsletter in how it characterized Ukraine’s role in BraveTech EU.
We apologize for this error.
