A $2,000 fiber-optic drone now defeats the concrete built to protect a $3.5 million transformer. Ukraine got through the worst winter of the war by decentralizing its networks; Europe, already under hybrid attack, meets none of the standards Ukraine set under fire.

Both camps of the drone war run on the same Chinese supply chain. The Royal Navy spent fifty years rigged in Russian hemp: history says the winners are those who build the substitution layer before the tap closes.

Defense Tech is booming, but Europe is losing the sovereignty race to US capital and slow-motion bureaucracy. The window to build independent giants is closing: it’s time to trade red tape for Ukrainian-style speed.