The war in Ukraine has highlighted Europe’s weaknesses in arms production with the security issue focusing on the need for a new defense industry strategy.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Wednesday for a new defense industry strategy to meet the security challenges posed by Russia’s war in Ukraine by buying European-made weapons and ammunition.

“To ensure that we have the sufficient amount of material and the technological superiority that we may need in the future, this means that we will increase the defense industrial capacity over the next five years,” von der Leyen said in Strasbourg on Wednesday.

Presenting her vision for the new strategy to members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, von der Leyen said that “at the heart of this strategy is a simple principle: Europe must spend more, spend better, spend European.”

One way to do this, the Commission president said, is to “prioritise joint defense procurement, as we did with vaccines or natural gas”, with the European Commission contracting with industry as a guarantee that member states they will buy their products.

With Europe reluctant to invest in personnel and equipment without firm orders, the defense industry has been slow to ramp up production, particularly of the artillery shells Ukraine so desperately needs.

The realization that former US President Donald Trump may return to the White House and undermine support for Ukraine has also raised concerns in Europe. European powers such as France and Germany have warned that the bloc must do more to protect itself.

“European sovereignty requires us to take responsibility for what is vital, even existential, for us,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “It’s about our ability but also our willingness to defend our own interests and values.”

Von der Leyen also said that “it is time to start a discussion about using the profits of frozen Russian assets to jointly buy military equipment for Ukraine.”

The Commission will present in the coming weeks the European Defense Industrial Strategy (EDIS) and the European Defense Industrial Program (EDIP) from joint research to ownership and the EU’s single defense market.

The war in Ukraine led European states to increase defense spending and a lot of money was directed to the US defense industry. Germany, for example, announced a 100 billion euro upgrade of its armed forces, with a large part of the funds going towards the purchase of US F-35 fighter jets and transport helicopters.

Von der Leyen said the goal should be for countries to buy more together, as the 27 EU states did in buying vaccines during the pandemic. To encourage industry to take more risks, he proposed that the EU provide guarantees for advance arms orders.

While production is improving, the EU has aimed to build one million artillery shells a year so far, but only reaches half that number. Officials now say production could reach 1.4 million missiles a year by the end of December.