PARIS \u2014 The European Commission is looking for companies to develop new technology worth nearly \u20ac1 billion starting in 2023, with a semi-autonomous naval vessel and space-based early warning capabilities topping the list of demands.<\/p>\n
The Commission\u2019s directorate-general for defense industry and space (DG DEFIS) last week released its call for proposals for the European Defence Fund\u2019s 2022 work program. The package is worth a cumulative \u20ac924 million ($969 million), Fran\u00e7ois Arbault, leader of defense industry efforts at the directorate, said during a June 14 briefing at the biennial Eurosatory trade conference outside of Paris.<\/p>\n
According to his presentation, the Commission is looking for solutions in 33 topic areas as part of this year\u2019s EDF round. Among some major planned investments, the office has earmarked \u20ac65 million ($68 million) to develop a semi-autonomous vessel and an equal amount to \u201cnaval collaborative surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Commission is looking to invest a cumulative \u20ac150 million ($156 million) in space-related assets, to include \u20ac90 million ($94 million) in a space-based early warning capability, \u20ac40 million ($42 million) in intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities, and \u20ac20 million ($21 million) for research efforts related to a responsive space system. About \u20ac70 million ($73 million) is set aside for cyber capabilities, including an information warfare toolbox and improved resiliency systems.<\/p>\n
In ground and airborne matters, the Commission has earmarked \u20ac50 million ($52 million) to develop \u201ccollaborative ground combat\u201d solutions, and \u20ac40 million ($42 million) for airborne electronic warfare solutions. There are also opportunities on the research side to support undersea warfare solutions, sensor development, and disruptive technologies such as adaptive camouflage.<\/p>\n
The Commission is looking not only for consortia made up of traditional defense players, but is interested in \u201cmassively\u201d lowering the barrier of entry for non-traditional industry partners and startup companies to contribute to European defense efforts, Arbault added.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will hopefully also result in more joint procurement by the member states, and step by step, we\u2019ll have a more streamlined industrial base, which is what we absolutely need to be on par with our major partners in the world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The EDF team is \u201calmost forcing\u201d EU member states to get together and jointly define their capability needs to inform the annual core proposal form that will be shared with industry, he added. \u201cIt\u2019s already quite a breakthrough to nudge member states into sitting at the same table to define jointly what it is that we see as our top priorities.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European Union has allocated \u20ac8 billion ($8.3 billion) to the EDF to spend between 2021 and 2027. Of that amount, \u20ac5.3 billion ($5.5 billion) is meant to support collaborative capability projects, and complement national contributions, while \u20ac2.7 billion ($2.8 billion) should be dedicated to defense research projects to address emerging and future challenges. The first round of EDF-funded proposal selections will be announced in July, and will comprise over \u20ac1.2 billion ($1.25 billion) of investment, per the Commission.<\/p>\n
Only \u201ccollaborative projects\u201d that involve at least three firms from at least three member states or Norway are eligible to receive EDF funding. Arbault noted that calls related to \u201cdisruptive technologies\u201d can be answered by a smaller consortium \u2013 involving at least two eligible firms from at least two member states or Norway \u2013 and that there are some exceptions available to include third-party participation on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n
The main objectives of the EDF are to support collaborative and cross-border European research and development projects, Arbault noted. \u201cWe want states to team up to define their needs, and industry to team up to actually answer those needs by developing jointly \u2026 the capabilities of tomorrow,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PARIS \u2014 The European Commission is looking for companies to develop new technology worth nearly \u20ac1 billion starting in 2023, with a semi-autonomous naval vessel and space-based early warning capabilities topping the list of demands. The Commission\u2019s directorate-general for defense industry and space (DG DEFIS) last week released its call for proposals for the European […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-18153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-maritime-safety-news","tag-autonomous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18153\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/developmenttask.com\/ShipIpLtd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}