Counter-drone systems — European Defence Fund

About this call

Expected Impact:

The results of the activities should contribute to support common procurement, leading to strengthening the cooperation among Member States and associated countries, as well as to greater interoperability. Furthermore, they should contribute to the replenishment of depleted stockpiles of counter-drone systems, to the increase of existing stockpiles or to establishment of defence industrial readiness pool, as well as to the development and reinforcement of counter-drone solutions as drones are being increasingly perceived as a pressing threat.

Objective:

This topic aims at actions supporting the common procurement of integrated systems (e.g. VSHORAD or SHORAD) or parts thereof (including sensors, kinetic or non-kinetic effectors - including direct energy weapons -, command and control solutions) to counter unmanned aerial, ground, surface or underwater vehicles, including those controlled remotely or operating autonomously using advanced software and sensors.

Scope:

Common procurement actions under this topic shall consist of activities related to the cooperation of legal entities in the procurement of integrated counter-drone systems or parts thereof, at any point in the life cycle of such defence products, including for the purpose of establishing, managing and maintaining defence industrial readiness pools. Procurements contracts are expected to include provisions allowing to upgrade quickly the counter-drone systems based on the evolving lessons identified from the battlefield.

To achieve the expected impact, the estimated value of a common procurement proposed for actions under this topic shall be at least EUR 20 000 000 aiming to commonly procure defence products to fill the capability gaps and reinforce cooperation among Member States and associated countries. The procurement shall be based on a binding agreement to be signed by the participating Member States and associated countries with a procurement agent appointed by those Member States and associated countries. Such procurement agent may be contracting authorities of Member States or associated countries, the European Defence Agency (EDA), a Structure for European Armament Programme (SEAP) or other international organisation, including the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) or the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). The cooperation shall be newly created in the context of the application to the call topic or based on an existing SENSITIVE EN 4 EN framework, provided that the activities under such cooperation framework did not start before 5 March 2024 and have not been completed before the signature of the grant agreement. Eligible actions are common procurement of systems, parts thereof or variants of those. The common procurement can be organised as a framework contract.

Actions shall be completed no later than 31 December 2033.