Grants & Funding

Scope: This topic aims to develop a prototype of a semi-autonomous remote management system, integrated with adaptive hardware that continuously learns and improves its ability to identify and dispose of potential objects. The primary objective is to detect and dispose of ammunition waste and residues from military training areas and battlefields. This will significantly reduce the risk factor associated with human involvement, ultimately contributing to a cleaner environment and in line with the ‘green military’ concept. The performance of the system to be developed is expected to improve…

Scope: This topic aims to improve the protection of seabed infrastructure through a comprehensive system, including unmanned assets, advanced sensors, underwater observation, detection, acquisition and communication systems, and integrated command and control. This initiative focuses on the development and validation of such a system for future operations, integrated with maritime command centres for coordinated responses. The approach combines operational levels and innovative technologies to effectively mitigate risk and ensure continuity of operations. Beyond defence technologies, this…

Scope: The aim of this topic is to follow up and complement previous activities already supported by the EDF in the field of medium-size semi-autonomous surface vessels, with a view to developing a universal fast-moving platform for the specific conditions of the littoral environment, providing enhanced coastal defence capabilities based on different mission modules, but also adaptable to other future naval warfare missions. In particular, this topic aims to review concepts and designs developed and implemented following the EDF call topic EDF-2022-DA-NAVAL-MSAS, while enabling new design,…

Scope: Reducing administrative barriers remains a challenge for the rapid movement of armed forces across the borders of EU Member States and EDF associated countries, especially in a constantly deteriorating geopolitical environment. The digitisation of the military mobility permit and clearance landscape is therefore crucial for rapid and efficient deployments. Against this background, this topic aims to follow up and complement activities in this area with the objective of developing a resilient system, including with a mobile application, capable of operating under adverse conditions when…

Scope: The proposals must demonstrate their disruptive impact on defence applications and address innovative technologies and solutions for defence, including those that can improve the readiness, deployability, reliability, safety and sustainability of forces in defence tasks and missions, for example in terms of operations, equipment, infrastructure, energy solutions, surveillance systems or digital solutions. Proposals must address disruptive knowledge, products and technologies in any area of defence interest (8 ) reaching at least TRL 4 (9 ).In addition, to best complement R&D efforts…

Scope: The high speed and significant manoeuvrability of hypersonic vehicles, particularly hypersonic glide vehicles, create difficult conditions for target detection and tracking, which are exacerbated by changes in radar cross section characteristics. Radar waveforms and signal processing become essential to counter the effects induced by hypersonic threat dynamics. In addition, the last decade has seen a global increase in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for battlefield intelligence gathering and reconnaissance. Anti-UAV radars therefore need to be developed to detect, identify…

Scope: Main battle tanks (MBTs), with their unique combination of protection, mobility and firepower, remain a key element of land military manoeuvre, particularly in the context of conventional warfare. Existing MBT fleets in EU Member States and EDF associated countries are ageing, and new MBT technologies need to be developed and their operational effectiveness in all future scenarios thoroughly tested in order to maintain the current technological edge. This topic therefore aims to follow up and complement previous activities for the development of future MBT systems. These will need to…

Scope: Assisting soldiers with robots and drones that can provide accurate tactical situational awareness by using AI becomes essential for soldier protection. This call topic aims to follow on and complement previous activities in the field of hidden threat detection and explore solutions involving various combinations of intelligent robots, drones and sensing technologies for advanced detection and recognition of threats, in view of their avoidance or neutralisation. These solutions should be tested under realistic scenarios in a comparable and objective manner to reach up to Technical…

Scope: An unmanned aerial vehicle used as unmanned loyal wingman/unmanned combat aerial vehicle requires specific performance for a variety of mission profiles to meet storage, deployment and operational requirements. In particular, an engine that provides optimum thrust and electrical power capabilities is required to meet these performance requirements. Against this background, the aim of this topic is to investigate a new turbofan engine in the range of approximately 25-35 kN that meets all feasible military requirements and is capable of operating on kerosene, hydrogen (H2) and…

Scope: This topic aims to follow up and complement previous activities in the field of high- performance energy systems, with a particular focus on unexplored technologies such as hydrogen (conversion, storage and logistics). New use cases for stationary military applications will therefore be identified and defined, while innovative building blocks and functional modules will be developed and evaluated. The demonstrators’ power and energy targets and other key performance indicators, including life cycle considerations, are expected to be improved, while the operability and connectivity to…

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative solutions in the technical area of materials analysis, including surface and bulk analysis of molecular structure, elemental composition, trace elements and isotope ratios in samples, to be conducted under ambient conditions, without the need for special sample preparation. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of…

The purpose of the GlobalX Innovation Challenge is to accelerate the traditional knowledge generation cycle, rapidly testing applied research theories to enable the discovery of revolutionary dual-use capabilities for the benefit of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the commercial marketplace, and the public. Led by the Office of Naval Research Global and targeted at researchers in the Indian subcontinent, this challenge addresses a joint Naval need and seeks to deliver outcomes of value to both the U.S. and India. The expected results are promising, potentially game-changing applied concepts…

This purpose of the GlobalX Challenge is to accelerate the traditional knowledge generation cycle, proving or disproving an applied research theory on an advanced timeline, leading to the discovery of revolutionary dual-use capability for the benefit of the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps, the commercial marketplace, and the public. The expected outcomes of this Challenge are promising, potentially game-changing, applied concepts whose maturity may be accelerated under separate follow-on technology development efforts.

The DICE program seeks to develop the theory and algorithms for decentralized coordination and local inference control to enable a scalable, adaptive, and resilient collective of heterogeneous AI agents that can autonomously execute sustained long-time-horizon missions in contested environments while remaining under human control. In contrast to small-scale, rigid, and fragile centralized orchestration or the high-risk unpredictable nature of ad hoc compositions of AI agents, DICE aims to harness the scalability and adaptability of self-organizing systems while minimizing risks and ensuring…

Bridging foundational academic research and strategic innovation for the Defense enterprise, the Center for Foundational Academic Research and Strategic Innovation for the Defense Enterprise (C-FARSIDE) will facilitate deep transdisciplinary collaborations among top-tier scholars, informed by defense strategists, that will transform rigorous and blue-sky research into breakthrough national security solutions and build a deep and lasting relationship between academia, foundations, international partners, industry and venture capital, and the DoW. The awardee will support technology scouting…

Expected Impact: Projects are expected to deliver results aligned with the expected results set out below and to evidence their contribution through dedicated KPIs defined in the proposal. Expected results include: • tangible capacity increases in EU-based production of the targeted energetic components, with demonstrated contribution to competitiveness ; • improved resilience & geographical distribution of supply, reducing single points of failure for energetic materials and related industrial services; • strengthened availability and security of supply for priority defence product…

Scope: Military operations require higher flexibility and mobility to gain and maintain the initiative. A collaborative, more efficient and digitised secure, cyber-resilient battlespace across land, air, maritime and space domains is key for information superiority, future mission management, spectrum dominance and smart decision support. The development of a common shared information space with a ‘cloud of clouds’ approach, leading to multi-domain operations cloud services, is therefore needed. The objective of this topic is to follow on and complement previous activities in the field of…

This UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) competition, run on behalf of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and Ministry of Defence (MOD) Defence Medical Services (DMS), seeks innovations addressing challenges in the field of conflict wounds.

DASA competition for the MOD Test and Evaluation (T&E) Transformation Programme to develop deployable T&E capabilities and regulatory solutions.

The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) uses the Open Call for Innovation to find ideas that address challenges across both Defence and Security landscapes.

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is to accelerate the adoption of PYRAMID Reference Architecture (PRA) in avionics and mission systems.

DASA competition for the Defence Medical Services (DMS) and UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) to address Non-Compressible Haemorrhage (NCH).

Expected Impact: The outcome should contribute to: Address the 2023 EU Capability Development Priority “Ground Combat Capabilities”, in particular its Key Impact Areas “Next Generation Manned and Unmanned Armoured Platforms” and “Modular and Multifunctional Systems of Systems for Effective Land Capabilities”. Provide the EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries end users with the means to integrate the qualified and certified platforms family of system of systems to reach the Initial Operation Capability (IOC) at the end of this decade. Increase the EDTIB capacity to accelerate…

Expected Impact: The outcome should contribute to: Accelerate the adoption of commercial high-tech propulsion and power system components. Technology implementation on naval vessels and the accelerated development, prototyping and demonstration of a number of crucial propulsion and power system technology building blocks. Accelerate the future research and development programmes of on energy conversion systems. Objective: The EU has set the ambition to be carbon neutral by 2050. This objective also affects military naval vessels. Most efficiently produced carbon-neutral fuels such as hydrogen…