DFNZ at the WELT Security Summit 2026: conceived by the soldier, built for series production
DFNZ took part in the WELT Security Summit 2026 in Berlin: CEO Eric Voss joined the panel to discuss the future of European defence capability. For DFNZ, one principle is clear: defence technology must be conceived from the soldier’s perspective and built for series production. Europe’s defence industry faces a new challenge. Innovative technologies must no longer merely be developed, but made available quickly and at industrial scale. This is precisely the question that shaped the discussion at the summit, and it defines DFNZ’s strategic ambition.
From prototype to series: in an interview with WELT, Eric Voss, CEO of DFNZ, explains why Europe’s defence industry must take the step from one-off production to industrial scaling, what role the engineering and industrialisation expertise of the automotive industry plays, and how DFNZ helps bring innovations into use faster.
Eric Voss describes the shift the industry needs as follows:
“Until now, we have had artisanal manufacturing, one-off production of different systems. We now have to bring this up to speed and scale, and talk about volumes of 10,000, 100,000 or a million units.”
This statement captures the current challenge precisely: innovation alone is no longer enough. Europe does not have an innovation problem; it has a scaling problem. What matters is the ability to industrialise new technologies quickly, produce them reliably, and deliver them in the quantities that a resilient and capable defence requires.
The benchmark is the soldier, not the paper
As important as volume is, the starting point for DFNZ always remains the individual in the field. Defence capability does not begin in the meeting room, but in the field, where soldiers take responsibility and must rely on the systems, products and equipment that can determine their survival when it counts. That is why the user sits at the centre of every development: the requirements, experience and feedback of the armed forces set out what is developed, procured and scaled. What counts is not what impresses on paper, but what works in the field: robust, intuitive, interoperable, available and scalable. The lessons from Ukraine show how quickly requirements change. Anyone who takes defence capability seriously must test faster, learn faster and deliver faster, always with a clear focus on the concrete benefit to the soldier in the field.
Dual Use: innovation meets industrial execution
This was exactly the subject Eric Voss discussed on the panel “Dual Use: Win-win for defence, industry and start-ups”, together with Karin Rådström, CEO of Daimler Truck Holding AG, and Balázs Nagy, Co-Founder & CEO of TYTAN Technologies. The discussion showed how closely innovation, industrial execution and dual-use capabilities must be thought of together going forward.
At the heart of the discussion was the question of how the innovative power of young technology companies can be combined with the engineering and manufacturing expertise of established industries. The automotive and commercial vehicle industry in particular has decades of experience in producing complex systems reliably and in large volumes. These are capabilities that are becoming increasingly important for building a capable European defence industry.
For DFNZ, this discussion confirms its own strategic direction. The company positions itself at the interface between defence tech and industry. The aim is not only to develop new solutions, but to move them into industrial execution faster together with strong industrial partners, consistently aligned with the concrete needs of the soldiers in the field.
“The fact that DFNZ shared the panel with a defence tech start-up and a leading industrial company underlines exactly the role we want to play: we combine the innovation speed of new technologies with the industrial execution expertise that is decisive for scaling and series readiness.” — Eric Voss, CEO, DFNZ
Beyond the panel discussion, the WELT Security Summit offered DFNZ an excellent opportunity to engage with key players in the security policy ecosystem. Leading representatives from politics, the Bundeswehr and the defence industry used the event to discuss the future of European defence capability. For DFNZ, this was a chance to deepen existing relationships, initiate new partnerships and sharpen its own positioning in direct exchange with relevant decision-makers.
Design. Deliver. Defend.
