European Defence Industry submits over 140 joint defence R&D proposals under first EDF calls, and 26 collaborative defence projects selected for funding under EDIDP

The European defence industry submitted by 9 December more than 140 proposals for joint defence R&D projects in response to the 23 first-ever calls of the European Defence Fund, reflecting the thematic priorities identified by the Member States with the support of the Commission. The calls dedicated to SME support received the highest level of response. One out of five proposals seek to bring innovative solutions for defence based on disruptive technologies. The Commission, assisted by independent experts, has started to evaluate the proposals in view of awarding and granting 1.2 billion euro of EU funding to the best projects before the end of 2022.

In June, following the evaluations of the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) 2020 calls, 26 new collaborative defence development proposals with an EU budget of more than 158 million euro were selected for funding. In addition, two major capability development projects received a directly awarded grant of 137 million euro under the EDIDP: ESSOR and MALE RPAS. These two projects are managed by the Organisation for Joint Armament Co-operation (OCCAR). The grant agreements of the other EDIDP 2020 projects were signed by the Commission and the consortia. In total, the EDIDP provided funding to 44 projects with a duration between 12 and 72 months, making the programme thus effectively run until 2026. More information about the programme and the individual awarded projects is available here.

Useful links:

- European Defence Fund (main page)