Europe’s defence-industrial base is undergoing its fastest expansion in decades, with arms plants adding roughly 7 million square metres of floor space—triple the normal peacetime rate—since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, according to a Financial Times analysis of radar-satellite data covering about 150 production sites. The build-out is being fuelled by public subsidies, notably the European Union’s €500 million Act in Support of Ammunition Production programme. EU officials say annual ammunition capacity has climbed from 300,000 to about 2 million rounds, while companies such as Rheinmetall are erecting new facilities capable of turning out 155 mm artillery shells at scale. Brussels is weighing a further €1.5 billion fund to accelerate missile, drone and air-defence production. In parallel, European governments are pooling funds to arm Kyiv directly. Berlin this week committed €500 million, bringing to $1.5 billion the amount that Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden have assembled under NATO’s Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List to purchase U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine. The alliance will run a dedicated supply line to handle the deliveries. The combination of factory construction and joint procurement means Europe’s military-industrial output for Ukraine, at €35.1 billion, now exceeds U.S. support measured the same way (€30.7 billion). Officials and industry executives say the shift marks a generational change, positioning the continent to sustain both Ukraine’s war effort and its own stockpile rebuilding with less reliance on Washington.