First EU Defence Pilot Project sees €1.4M grant agreements

Land November 3, 2016

The first grants in the EU Defence Pilot Project grants have been awarded with the agreements signed at the EDA worth a total of €1.4M.

The first grants in the EU Defence Pilot Project were signed at the end of October. Several grants have been awarded with the agreements signed at the EDA worth a total of €1.4M. Three selected research activities have been selected to be carried out under the EU’s first Pilot Project in the field of defence research.

The Pilot Project is an important step in EU defence integration, it will be the first time that the European Union has tested the conditions for defence research in an EU framework, funded by the EU budget.

With the launch of the European Commission’s Preparatory Action (PA) on defence research in 2017, which will in turn, lead to a fully-fledged European Defence Research Programme (EDRP) as part of the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (2021-2027), the Pilot Project is an important first step.

These research programmes are designed to support R&T capability priorities by Member States and can be taken up in future collaborative capability programmes.

The Pilot Project is 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, the EDA is responsible for the project’s implementation and management.

Deputy Director General Pierre Delsaux said: “EU funding for defence research was almost inconceivable a few years ago for EU institutions, Member States and the defence community. This Pilot Project is therefore the precursor of a new era.”

EDA Chief Executive Jorge Domecq said: “Today’s signing marks an important milestone and opens a new chapter in the way defence research is funded in Europe. The European Parliament, the European Commission and the EDA have worked together, hand in hand, to set up this Pilot Project which is an important test bed for more defence research funded from the EU budget in the future”.

“The EDA is now looking forward to advancing the activities and making the Pilot Project a success”.

“Using the EU budget for funding defence R&T will help to generate critical mass, to network European research entities and to increase interoperability and standards. The Pilot Project has already shown to what extent EU funding in conjunction with priorities set by Member States at intergovernmental level can be a powerful catalyst to attract Primes and SMEs, Research Centers and Academia, from big and small Member States. Research in defence also has concrete and profitable spill-over effects for everyday life”, he said.

R&T is not nice-to-have. It is an essential prerequisite to develop the required defence capabilities of the future and thus to provide for our citizen’s security”

The three activities were selected following an EU-wide call for proposals organized by the EDA between 23 March and 23 June 2016. They cover the following topics:

Inside Building Awareness and Navigation for Urban Warfare (SPIDER) – Grant: €433.225
Standardisation of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) Detect and Avoid (TRAWA) – Grant: €433.292
Unmanned Heterogeneous Swarm of Sensor Platforms (EuroSWARM) – Grant: €434.000

The signing of the grant agreements begins the implementation phase of the three activities as of 1 November 2016. SPIDER and EuroSWARM will be delivered after 12 months (November 2017) while TRAWA will run for 18 months (May 2018).

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EDA EU Europe European Defence Research Programme grants Innovation Pilot Project R&T