Aircraft propulsion and energy management systems

Opened

Code: 35984 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-ENERENV-APEM | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

The objective of this call topic is to develop and mature a new suite of advanced technologies for propulsion, power and thermal management system for fighter aircraft that can be applied in a modular and flexible manner to different sizes and types of systems, operating within a System-of-Systems (SoS) configuration that should include various interconnected elements, including manned and unmanned systems, swarms of drones and auxiliary platforms.

Advanced underwater networks

Opened

Code: 35982 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-UWW-AUWN-STEP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

The aim of this call topic is to develop a new generation of Unmanned Underwater Super Systems (UUSS) and networks, where systems and subsystems would reach a technology maturity level of up to TRL 7, potentially TRL 8 on sub-system-level. The goal is to address specific needs of future UTS missions and to demonstrate these systems in an operational seawater environment. Current state of the art UUVs and fixed infrastructure should natively support UTS by application of a common non-proprietary and interoperable standards without the limitations of retrofit solutions.

Technologies for optronic detectors

Opened

Code: 35980 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-SENS-IRD-STEP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

The goal of this topic is for EU IR detector developers to integrate detection circuits of varying wavelengths onto ROICs platforms and incorporate these focal plane arrays into integrated demonstrators. This should be carried out to enhance the technological maturity of the advanced ROIC designs and fully qualify the supply chain for advanced ROICs components compatible with the various IR technologies and 2D/3D architectures, as requested by the call topic EDF-2021-SENS-R-IRD.

A first assessment of the performances should be done at demonstrator level. In parallel, 3D stacking technologies should be explored to increase the maturity of this technological key enabler for future smart IR sensors.

On-orbit operations and services

Opened

Code: 35977 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-SI-SPACE-3OS | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

The specific objective of this call topic is to develop a ‘dual-use by-design’ demonstrator of the space systems, sub-systems and related key technologies, ready for IOD/IOV, needed to address the abovementioned defence needs. The demonstrator has to be designed to be potentially operated by defence users through their military C2 ground segments in order to enable or perform on-orbit operations and services on their own satellites.

Digital Ship and Naval Combat Cloud

Opened

Code: 35975 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-NAVAL-DSNCC-STEP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

The specific objective is:

• To design, prototype and test a digital platform as an EU-based infrastructure framework (i.e., digital platform) for the integration and common operation of the SOTS.
• To launch the initial design of a multidomain naval combat cloud which could cover the gap between the cloud at naval platform level and the global and joint inter-services combat cloud.

Space-based ISR constellation

Opened

Code: 35973 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-SPACE-SBISR | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

This SBISR call topic aims at contributing to develop an affordable constellation of small satellites, including its ground segments able to handle various types of innovative sensor payloads (optical, night vision, low light infrared, hyperspectral, RADAR, passive RF detection, video) for ISR applications. Such a constellation would complement high-end existing military capabilities while allowing responsive and smart tasking and data collection for near real-time operational and tactical use.

The objective of the topic is to develop European SBISR capabilities through three pillars:

1. An access system called the Federation Layer.
2. The development of a low-latency constellation made of multi-sensor small-satellites.
3. The access to existing national capabilities and capabilities under development.

Land collaborative combat including air-land

Opened

Code: 35970 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-GROUND-LCC-STEP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

Battlefield transparency is still insufficient due to high complexity warfare in a multi-domain environment with increased battle rhythm, deception, and electronic warfare measures.

Deployments should happen mainly in NATO as well as in EU operations and missions and build upon a networking and service infrastructure compliant with Federated Mission Networking (FMN) spiral specifications. Some of them should need pooling and sharing capabilities. Native interoperability up to the enterprise level between all relevant platforms (e.g., command post, vehicular, dismounted) is thus an increasing operational need.

New technologies such as Artificial Intelligence AI, edge computing, cloud-native architectures, and evolving technology-based manufacturing processes such as Dev(Sec)Ops, allowing for continuous integration and deployment (CI/CD) of IT services and Software Defined Defence (SDD) need to be adopted in the defence sector as key enablers to provide for improved decision and effect making at the relevance of speed. The distribution of commercially available storage and compute power, however, cannot but adapt to the available communication means to interconnect resources scattered throughout the combat arena and the power made available by the platforms (i.e., vehicles, and dismounted soldiers).

Enhanced pilot environment

Opened

Code: 35967 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-AIR-EPE | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

From the point of view of the human-machine relationship, the new generation of military aircraft involved in this collaborative air combat is likely to require a new generation of human-machine relationship that allows ergonomic cooperation between the crew and the machine, effective and safe flight, as well as cooperation with other assets, including unmanned ones. The new technologies would make it possible to gain a tactical advantage by assisting the crew as a real teammate, responding to requests, suggesting tactics and procedures, and adapting interfaces to the pilots’ and/or operators’ status and needs.

Taking into account the new paradigm of human-machine teaming in future collaborative and connected air warfare, this call topic aims to address the following areas:

• New or disruptive Human-Machine Interface (HMI) technologies, such as displays, wearables, vocal dialogue, augmented reality, stereoscopy.
• Pilot status monitoring in relation to the mission and systems status.
• Assisted decision-making support based on advanced techniques like Artificial Intelligence (AI) not excluding other approaches.

Multiband 4D Radar

Opened

Code: 35965 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-SENS-MB4DR-STEP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

The specific challenge of this topic is to propose a technology integration demonstrator, as the basis for a future multiband 4D radar system that performs simultaneous sea, land, air and space warfare capabilities, and that is suitable to be integrated into a naval platform self/area-defence and combat management system within an air surveillance command and control system.

Regarding radar, it aims to show enhanced detection of conventional air/surface and Tactical Ballistic Missiles (TBM) targets as well as new threats including tactical and strategical hypersonic targets and Low Earth Orbit (LEO) objects. The objective of the final system is to be seamlessly integrated within the combat management system and the fire control loop, being able to provide a multistatic capability (the radar being an illuminator or a receiver) and being multifunctional enabling communications to establish datalinks within collaborative signals/carriers.

Risk, robustness and resilience for autonomous vehicles in military operations

Opened

Code: 35963 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-LS-RA-SI-CYBER-3RAV-STEP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

Unmanned vehicles (UxV) such as drones, ground vehicles, and surface/underwater vessels are bound to become an integral part of military operations. From a security perspective, this poses various new challenges that need to be properly resolved to deploy these vehicles in real missions and exploit their full potential.

The cyber-physical nature of UxVs affects security in various way. It brings the attack surface of a typical computer (network) into a new context where successful cyber-attacks can have serious consequences in the physical world, while imposing new physical and operational constraints on available and well-established cyber security controls. New attack vectors emerge, and threat models need to be revised.

Designing appropriate security controls for UxVs requires capabilities to identify and evaluate complex trade-offs between data protection, cybersecurity and assured autonomy to best support a mission. Automating parts of the analysis process is necessary to handle the complexity of this task, including processing large amount of data, reducing costs and risks associated with testing physical systems, and producing structured and traceable documentation.

Existing security and safety approaches may be tailored to suit UxVs so that they can be made both secure and robust against well-known deliberate and accidental threats, however new solutions are expected. An additional challenge is whether UxVs can be made resilient in the sense that they can still react in a way that minimises the consequences, and possibly allows for alternative ways to complete the mission autonomously, in the presence of a successful cyber-attack.

Exchange Scheme Third Call for Proposals (oc3-2025-TES-01)

Closed

Code: 35961 | Identifier Code: ENFIELD | Programme name: 20613 | Start submission calls: 15/02/2025 | End submission calls: 14/04/2025

The ENFIELD – Exchange Scheme Open Call aims to attract the top-level researchers to conduct fundamental research in the fields of Green AI, Adaptive AI, Humancentric AI, and Trustworthy AI. These research activities are focused on addressing specific scientific and technological challenges within the domains of energy, healthcare, manufacturing, and space.

EIT Call for Proposals 2025 for a new EIT Knowledge and Innovation Community (KIC) on Water, Marine and Maritime Sectors and Ecosystems (‘Water’)

Opened

Code: 35959 | Identifier Code: HORIZON-EIT-2025 | Programme name: 2939 | Sub-program: European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) | Start submission calls: 20/02/2025 | End submission calls: 17/06/2025

The EIT Community is characterised by a focus on results and on achieving long-lasting impact in the way the EU approaches and manages innovation. It is therefore critical that the KIC demonstrates substantial impact at the socioeconomic level over time, and significant progress towards achieving its mission and objectives. The KIC should harvest intellectual, human, material and financial resources to create valuable outputs such as innovation communities, high quality curricula, start-ups, innovative products, services, technologies, through which it develops and sustains value-added business, enhances competencies necessary for innovation and entrepreneurship, and for developing solutions to major societal challenges.

A KIC is expected to create the following impacts:

• technological/economic/innovation impact by influencing the creation and growth of companies, as well as the creation and deployment at scale of new innovative solutions to address the global challenges, creating direct and indirect jobs and mobilising additional public and private investments;
• educational impact by strengthening human capital in research and innovation, enhancing innovative and entrepreneurial skills both at individual and organisational levels and fostering the creation and diffusion of knowledge and innovation openly within society;
• societal impact, including the impact derived by the delivery of systematic solutions within and beyond the EIT Community, also through Cross-KIC activities, by addressing EU policy priorities in the Water, Marine and Maritime Sectors and Ecosystems (‘Water’) through innovative solutions, engagement with citizens and end-users and by strengthening the uptake of innovative solutions in these areas in society.

Participation of Cypriot Enterprises in Meetings Abroad to attract investments – Meet Investors Travel Grants (02/2025)

Opened

Code: 35954 | Identifier Code: MEET INVESTORS/0225 | Programme name: 2941 | Start submission calls: 17/02/2025 | End submission calls: 15/12/2025

The Call is open to innovative enterprises seeking to attract private investment to further develop their enterprise.

Open call for cascade grants of NEBA Alliance

Opened

Code: 35952 | Identifier Code: NEBA Alliance | Programme name: 20613 | Start submission calls: 28/02/2025 | End submission calls: 05/05/2025

The NEBA Alliance is a project consortium funded by the European Commission. The goal of the Alliance is to codesign the foundation of a long-lasting European network of NEB Academy Hubs, which can reach workers and stakeholders across all EU countries and offer meaningful trainings and knowledge transfer and form the NEB Academy. NEB Academy’s long-term mission is to train, upskill, and reskill the construction ecosystem to achieve a carbon neutral building sectorand a beautiful, sustainable, and inclusive transformation of the built environment.

Full-size demonstrators for next generation soldier systems

Opened

Code: 35949 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-PROTMOB-SS | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

This call topic aims to develop the next-generation dismounted soldier system (NGDSS), finding synergies with existing topical EDF projects’ concepts and developments through an updated open-source architecture, as well as NATO efforts and the development of individual and networking capabilities.

Future modular multifunctional land platforms and enabling technologies, including green technologies

Opened

Code: 35947 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-GROUND-FM2LP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

This topic aims to further develop the technologies required to enhance the performance and effectiveness of armoured land platform systems in high-intensity operations, making them more capable, modular, multifunctional and energy efficient by maximising synergies, standardisation and interoperability of armoured land vehicle families.

Collaborative air combat

Opened

Code: 35945 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-AIR-CAC | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

Today’s EU Member States’ and EDF Associated Countries’ air forces are built on a wide variety of heterogeneous systems. This diversity poses the challenge of interoperability at functional, software and hardware levels. With the plausible introduction of unmanned systems into air combat, future interoperability require much deeper networking, which could be provided by a new generation of tactical data links.

The overall objective is to jointly develop an EU perspective to enable EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries to harmonise, standardise and share processes and tools to efficiently operate, in the medium to long term, joint air combat capabilities combining future air combat systems, manned or unmanned platforms, legacy platforms and their evolution, including sensors and effectors.

Drone-based affordable mass munitions

Opened

Code: 35943 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-DA-SI-GROUND-DAMM | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

As it is related to EUDIS, and in addition to the development activities, this call topic aims to support innovation opportunities and enable small companies to demonstrate innovative technologies relevant to drone-based affordable mass munitions and receive limited acceleration support. To achieve this objective, financial support to third parties (FSTP, i.e., cascade funding) is included as a mandatory part of the grant. This should increase the opportunities for various smaller actors, including those not previously active in the defence sector, to adapt innovative technologies for drone-based affordable mass munitions and to identify potential business opportunities in the defence sector.

Privacy-preserving human-AI dialogue systems – Participation in a technological challenge

Opened

Code: 35941 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-LS-RA-CHALLENGE-DIGIT-HAIDP-STEP | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

The fast progress of generative artificial intelligence (AI), large language models and dialogue systems (chatbots) paves the way towards high impact defence applications in various domains such as intelligence, strategic planning, tactical operations, and life-cycle support. However, these technologies are still prone to errors, leading them in particular to present false or misleading information as fact (hallucinations). They should also be adapted to defence-specific needs. There is therefore a need for further research to develop high-performance human-AI dialogue systems for defence.

Privacy-preserving human-AI dialogue systems – Organisation of a technological challenge

Opened

Code: 35939 | Identifier Code: EDF-2025-LS-RA-CHALLENGE-DIGIT-HAIDO | Programme name: 3564 | Start submission calls: 18/02/2025 | End submission calls: 16/10/2025

Human-AI dialogue systems offer impressive results but are still prone to errors of various types. Moreover, there is no established metric to measure system performances. In order to ensure trustworthiness and steer progress, these systems should be submitted to common tests using shared data and clear metrics and protocols.

The goal of this call topic is thus to set up a testing environment and organise a technological challenge to evaluate the performances of such systems for defence use cases, including their abilities to manage classified information and to justify their answers. The challenge should be open to research teams supported through another call topic (EDF-2025-LS-RA-CHALLENGE-DIGIT-HAIDP) and possibly by other sources of funding. Representative defence users should be involved to contribute to the definition of the use cases and associated data, to test the demonstrators produced by the participating teams, and to provide feedback.