European Commission will invest € 1.2 billion to support 61 collaborative defence research and development projects
The European Commission has announced plans to invest € 1.2 billion to support 61 collaborative defence research and development projects, under the European Defence Fund (EDF).
The proposals selected for funding will support high-end defence capability projects such as the next generation of fighter aircrafts, tanks and ships, as well as critical defence technologies such as military cloud, Artificial Intelligence, semiconductors, space, cyber or medical counter measures. It will also spearhead disruptive technologies, in quantum technologies and new materials and tap into promising SMEs and start-ups.
Taking it to twitter, the European Commission tweeted,
The EU is delivering to its citizens in a challenging security context.
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) July 20, 2022
Today, we announce an investment of almost €1.2 billion to support 61 defence research and development projects under the European Defence Fund.#EUdefence
It further tweeted,
With the proposals selected for funding, the European Defence Fund will support high-end defence capability projects such as:
— European Commission 🇪🇺 (@EU_Commission) July 20, 2022
🔹the next generation of aircraft fighters
🔹artificial intelligence
🔹semiconductors
🔹space
🔹quantum technologies
🔹new materials#EUdefence pic.twitter.com/yrhFikgVvT
The European Commission services will now enter into grant agreement preparation with the selected enterprises. Following the successful conclusion of the grant agreement preparations and the adoption of European Commission award decision, the grant agreements will be signed before the end of the year.
It is to be noted that in June 2021, the European Commission adopted the EDF’s first annual work programme and published a first series of 23 calls for proposals, which contained 11 calls targeting research actions and 12 calls targeting development actions, addressing a total of 37 topics.
The EDF is the European Commission’s flagship instrument to support defence cooperation in Europe. It promotes cooperation between companies of all sizes and research actors throughout the European Union (E.U.). The EDF supports competitive and collaborative defence projects throughout the entire cycle of research and development, focusing on projects leading to state-of-the-art and interoperable defence technologies and equipment.
It also fosters innovation and incentivizes the cross-border participation of SMEs. Projects are selected on the basis of the defence capability priorities agreed by Member States within the framework of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) and particularly in the context of the Capability Development Plan (CDP).
The EDF has a budget of € 7,953 billion in current prices for the period 2021-2027. Of this, € 2,651 billion will be allocated to funding collaborative defence research to address emerging and future security threats and € 5,302 billion will be used to co-finance collaborative capability development projects. Between 4% and 8% of the EDF budget is devoted to development or research for disruptive technologies having the potential to create game-changing innovations in a defence context.
The EDF is implemented through annual work programmes structured along 17 stable thematic and horizontal categories focusing on emerging challenges to shape a multidimensional and holistic approach to the modern-day battlespace, such as defence medical support, Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear (CBRN), biotech and human factors, information superiority, advanced passive and active sensors, cyber and space. It also focuses on boosters and enablers for defence to bring a key technology push to the EDF. It gives equal importance to excellence in warfare to enhance the capability pull and support ambitious defence systems, such as air combat, air and missile defence, ground combat, force protection and mobility, naval combat, underwater warfare and simulation and training.
