European Defence Fund (EDF)
The European Defence Fund (EDF) incentivises and supports collaborative, cross-border research and development in the area of defence. Complementing and amplifying Member States' efforts, EDF promotes cooperation among companies and research actors of all sizes and geographic origin in the EU.
Following the signature of a Contribution Agreement in 2022, EDA has been entrusted by the European Commission with the management of two grants from the 2021 EDF calls for proposals.
Projects information
PREPARATORY ACTION ON DEFENCE RESEARCH
Since 05/2017
Participating Countries
EU Member States and Norway
Partners
European Commission and European Parliament |
SUMMARY
Within the Research strand of the European Defence Fund, the Commission has earmarked 90 M€ for the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR).
The PADR implementation is run by the European Defence Agency (EDA) following the mandate of a Delegation Agreement between the Commission and EDA signed on 31st May 2017 and as amended on 29th January 2019 and on 21st December 2020. By this agreement the Commission entrusts EDA with the management and implementation of the research projects to be launched within the PADR.
The budget for the PADR related actions is split in three years as follows:
25 M€ in 2017;
40 M€ in 2018;
25 M€ in 2019.
The Preparatory Action on Defence Research is a concrete step aimed at assessing and demonstrating the added-value of EU supported defence research and technology (R&T). The relevant results are expected to further deepen European defence cooperation, addressing capability shortfalls, and to strengthen European defence stakeholders.
The European Commission launched the PADR with a view of developing the future European Defence Fund as part of the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027).
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GOALS
- Demonstrate and assess added-value of EU-supported defence R&T
- Results should foster further cooperation between MoDs and between EU defence industries
- Prepare for a basic act to launch a substantial defence research programme from 2021 on-wards
PADR CALLS 2019 (CLOSED)
The PADR 2019 work programme includes the following calls and topics.
- Electromagnetic Spectrum Dominance: Combined radar, communications, and electronic warfare functions based on European Active Electronically Scanned Arrays (AESA) for military applications (PADR-EMS-03-2019). This topic focuses on research and technological development (R&T) project, potentially followed by further and/or development actions, to design and build multifunction radio frequency system based on AESA technology for a broad range of applications, to become available for defence applications in several military domains within the next decade in Europe.
- Future Disruptive Defence Technologies:
- Emerging Game-changers (PADR-FDDT-EMERGING-03-2019). The proposals are sought for cutting-edge high-risk/high-reward research projects that aim to demonstrate a new technological paradigm within the scope of one or more of the areas, including autonomous positioning, navigation and timing; artificial Intelligence for defence; quantum technologies for defence applications; long-range effects and augmenting soldier capacity.
- Challenging the future (PADR-FDDT-OPEN-03-2019). The proposals are sought for cutting-edge, high-risk/high-impact research leading to game-changing impact in a defence context.
- Unmanned Systems: Interoperability standards for military unmanned systems (PADR-US-03-2019). This topic focuses on interoperability and standardisation of systems, subsystems, components and procedures of complex unmanned platforms in a network centric environment..
The implementation will be through grants. The calls for proposals were published on 19 March 2019 and closed on 28 August 2019 in the Funding & Tender Opportunities Portal and were accessible from the EDA website.
Important dates
- 19 MARCH 2019
Publication of the Calls for proposals
- 21 MARCH 2019
Opening of the Calls for proposals for the following topics:
- PADR-EMS-03-2019
- PADR-FDDT-EMERGING-03-2019
- PADR-US-03-2019
- 11 APRIL 2019
PADR InfoDay and Brokerage event
- 4 JUNE 2019
Opening of the Calls for proposals for the topic PADR-FDDT-OPEN-03-2019 – 1st Stage
- 28 AUGUST 2019
Deadline for submission for:
- PADR-EMS-03-2019
- PADR-FDDT-EMERGING-03-2019
- PADR-US-03-2019
- 3 SEPTEMBER 2019
Deadline for submission for PADR-FDDT-OPEN-03-2019 - 1st Stage
- 31 OCTOBER 2019
Invitation to selected projects to submit full proposal for PADR-FDDT-OPEN-03-2019 – 2nd Stage
- 30 JANUARY 2020
Deadline for submission for PADR-FDDT-OPEN-03-2019 – 2nd Stage
Info Day & Brokerage
Event held on 11 April 2019 in Brussels.
Below the given presentations:
Projects Information
PADR CALLS 2018 (CLOSED)
The PADR 2018 work programme included the following topics.
- An European high-performance, trustable (re)configurable system-on-a-chip or system-in-package for defence applications. The project aims to design and validate a SoC/SiP and as such make a substantial contribution towards the development and manufacturing of European high-performance, trustable (re)configurable SoC/SiP suitable for multiple defence applications;
- Towards a European high power laser effector. This topic focus on a research and technological development (R&T) project, later on followed by a development phase, to design and build a European high power laser effector, to become available for defence applications within the next decade;
- Strategic technology foresight. This action should aim to provide an effective way for tackling the issue of the critical defence technological dependencies for the EU regarding current and future systems and capabilities.
Their implementation will be through grants. The calls for proposals were published on 15 March 2018 and closed on 28 June 2018 in the Research and Innovation Participant Portal and were accessible from the EDA website.
Important dates
- 15 MARCH 2018
Opening of the Calls for proposals
- 12 APRIL 2018
PADR InfoDay and Brokerage event
- 28 JUNE 2018
Deadline for submission for all Calls
Info Day & Brokerage
Event held on 12 April 2018 in Brussels.
Below the given presentations:
Projects Information
PADR CALLS 2017 (CLOSED)
The PADR 2017 work programme included the following topics.
- A technological demonstrator for enhanced situational awareness in a naval environment. The project aimed to show the added value of unmanned systems in enhancing situational awareness while operating alongside and communicating with other manned and unmanned systems;
- Research in technology and products in the context of Force Protection and Soldier Systems. This topic focused on aspects such as future generic open soldier system reference architecture; technology advancements in tailor-made blast, ballistic and Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) protection of military personnel; as well as novel developments in active and passive military camouflage methods;
- Strategic technology foresight. The call requested to develop and validate a methodology and/or process to gather data. These foresight activities will be carried out on a recurring basis. They will be used to develop realistic scenarios of potential future conflicts which will help scoping EU-funded defence research.
Their implementation was done through grants. The calls for proposals were published in the Research and Innovation Participant Portal and were accessible from the EDA website.
Important Dates
- 7 JUNE 2017
Opening of the Calls for proposals
- 27 JUNE 2017
PADR InfoDay and Brokerage event
- 28 SEPTEMBER 2017
Deadline for submission for Force Protection and Soldier
- 28 SEPTEMBER 2017
Deadline for submission for Strategic Technology Foresight
- 5 OCTOBER 2017
Deadline for submission for Technology Demonstrator
Info Day & Brokerage
Event held on 27 June 2017 in Brussels.
Below the given presentations:
Projects Information
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PILOT PROJECT (PP) ON DEFENCE RESEARCH
Since 11/2015-11/2018
Participating Countries
EU Member States
Partners
European Commission and European Parliament |
SUMMARY
The signing of the Pilot Project Delegation Agreement marked an important step in EU defence integration since it was the first time that the European Union tested the conditions for defence research in an EU framework, funded by the EU budget.
The Pilot Project also paved the way for the launch, in 2017, of the European Commission’s Preparatory Action (PA) on defence research which, in turn, leads to a fully-fledged European Defence Fund, including a Research Window, as part of the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027). All of them - Pilot Project, Preparatory Action and the future European Defence Fund - should support R&T that is serving capability priorities identified by Member States in the Capability Development Plan and be taken up in future collaborative capability programmes.
PILOT PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION
The signing of the grant agreements fired the starting shot for the implementation phase of the three activities as off 1 November 2016. SPIDER and EuroSWARM duration was 12 months (November 2017) while TRAWA run for 18 months (May 2018).
The Pilot Project was run and managed by the EDA on behalf of the European Commission based on a delegation agreement signed between the Agency and the Commission in November 2015. As a result, EDA was responsible for the project’s implementation and management.
BACKGROUND
DISCLAIMER
Pilot Project and Preparatory Action on Defence Research – PP and PADR programmes has received European Union’s funding. This communication related to the implementation of the entrusted tasks made by EDA reflects only the author's view and that the Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.