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Defence Industry and Space
News article19 March 2019

Preparatory Action on Defence Research: Description of the 2019 topics

The European Commission adopted the 2019 Financing Decision for the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) on 19 March. It includes descriptions of 4 topics for which calls for proposals will be launched later this month.

The first call will result in the selection of one project for research activities at system and component levels for the development of compact, highly performing and lightweight multifunction radiofrequency systems (combination of radar, communications and electronic warfare functions), based on a European active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology.

The second call for proposals will focus on future disruptive defence technologies, with two topics. The first topic will result in the selection of up to 3 projects on potential disruptive defence technologies: these projects should demonstrate (convincing experimental proof of concept) the radical impact of technologies of any kind in the area of defence bringing technological superiority over potential adversaries.

The second topic under this call for proposals will result in the funding of 5 projects to contribute to the development of breakthrough technologies for defence applications under 5 predefined topics.

Finally, the third call for proposals will fund one project on interoperability standards for military unmanned systems increasing interoperability of various defence units using autonomous systems.

The budget for the PADR-related actions in 2019 is €25 million. This budget should fund the projects resulting from the calls described above. The PADR’s main implementation mechanism are grants. The calls for proposals and the participation modalities will be published on the funding and tenders opportunities portal.

These calls are the last ones of the PADR, that will fund over its lifespan up to 18 research projects with a total budget of €90 million. The PADR is the first deliverable of the European Defence Fund, paving the way to a fully-fledged research programme to be launched under the Fund from 2021 onwards.

Related documents

2019 PADR work programme with description of actions

Details

Publication date
19 March 2019