"The suggested 1.5 billion euros in spending along with the two-year implementation period may not square with the ambitious objectives," the European Court of Auditors, which analyses EU programmes, said.

The 27-nation bloc has been scrambling to boost its weapons production since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

But, despite some improvement, the EU's arms output lags far behind that of Russia and industry is struggling to provide enough to both arm Kyiv and build up EU forces.

Brussels has launched a spate of programmes since Moscow's invasion aimed at increasing the output of the EU's defence industry.

The latest of those was the proposed 1.5-billion-euro European Defence Industry Programme (EDIP) put forward in March to support joint purchases of arms by EU states and investments by firms to boost capacity.

The EU proposal "needs more robust design", warned ECA member Marek Opiola.

European officials have already complained that the money involved is inadequate if the EU truly wants to make progress on its efforts to spur industry.

"It's important, it can have an impact. But I would like to see much bigger numbers," Andrius Kubilius, who is nominated to be the EU's new defence commissioner, said last month.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen has estimated that the bloc will need to invest 500 billion euros overall on defence over the next decade.

EU member states have ramped up their own defence spending in the wake of the invasion but central efforts from Brussels have failed to keep pace.

Countries including France and Estonia have been pushing the EU to consider joint borrowing similar to that used to recover from the Covid pandemic to fund its defence ambitions.

But other EU states such as Germany and the Netherlands have so far baulked at the suggestion.

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EDIP