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Grant Details

Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

  • Core Objective: To enhance the security and resilience of autonomous vehicles (UxVs) in military operations against cyber threats, contributing to a stronger and more technologically independent European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB).
  • Target Recipients: Legal entities, including SMEs and mid-caps, from EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries.
  • SECTOR-SPECIFIC: Defence, Cybersecurity, Autonomous Systems.
  • Geographic Scope: Organisations established in EU Member States and listed EDF Associated Countries. Project activities and infrastructure must be located/held in these countries.
  • Key Filtering Criteria: Must be a legal entity, established in an eligible country, participate in a consortium of at least 3 independent applicants from 3 different eligible countries, and focus on research for autonomous military vehicles' cyber resilience.
  • Grant Frequency: Recurring (part of the annual EDF Work Programme).
  • Program Context: Part of the European Defence Fund (EDF) and contributes to the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) objectives in deep and digital technologies.

Financial Structure

  • Total budget for this topic: EUR 20,000,000.
  • Grant type: Lump Sum Grants for Research Actions (LS-RA).
  • Funding rate: 100% of eligible costs.
  • Eligible costs for lump sum calculation (must comply with basic eligibility for EU actual cost grants):
    • Personnel costs: Average personnel costs (unit cost), SME owner/natural person unit cost.
    • Subcontracting costs: Subcontracted work must be performed in eligible countries. Subcontracting beyond 30% of total eligible costs per beneficiary/affiliated entity requires justification.
    • Equipment costs: Depreciation only.
    • Other cost categories: Internally invoiced goods and services (unit cost).
    • Indirect costs: 25% flat-rate of eligible direct costs (excluding subcontracting, financial support to third parties, internally invoiced goods/services, PCP procurement costs) OR actual costs. The chosen method is fixed.
    • VAT: Non-deductible/non-refundable VAT is eligible, unless paid by public bodies acting as public authority.
    • Kick-off meeting costs: Eligible for travel (max 2 persons, return to Brussels, one night accommodation) if meeting takes place after project start date.
  • Ineligible costs:
    • Financial support to third parties is NOT allowed.
    • Project websites (costs for communication on participants' websites are eligible, but not for separate project websites).
    • Costs for activities carried out in non-eligible countries.
    • Costs related to the use of assets, infrastructure, facilities, or resources located or held outside eligible countries (even if use was authorised).
    • Specific activities like System prototyping, Testing, Qualification, Certification, and Development of technologies or assets increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies are explicitly NOT eligible for funding under this topic.
  • Payment Schedule:
    • Normally, a prefinancing payment (typically 55% of the maximum grant amount) within 30 days of entry into force, starting date, or financial guarantee (whichever is latest).
    • For projects longer than 18 months, additional prefinancing or interim payments may occur, linked to prefinancing reports.
    • Final payment of the balance at the end of the project.
  • Financial Guarantees: Prefinancing guarantees may be required from the coordinator (for the consortium), typically equal to or lower than the prefinancing amount. Must be issued by an approved bank/financial institution in an EU Member State.
  • Reporting: Financial records must be kept. Progress reports and a special report are mandatory deliverables.

Eligibility Requirements

Organisation Type and Legal Status
  • Must be a legal entity (public or private body).
  • Natural persons are NOT eligible, with the exception of self-employed persons (sole traders) where the company has no separate legal personality.
  • International organisations are NOT eligible, unless their members are exclusively EU Member States or EDF Associated Countries AND their executive management structure is in an EU Member State or EDF Associated Country.
  • Entities without legal personality may exceptionally participate if representatives can undertake legal obligations and offer equivalent financial guarantees.
  • Associations and interest groupings may participate as 'sole beneficiaries' or 'beneficiaries without legal personality'.
  • Subcontractors involved in the action (direct contractual relationship, >=10% total eligible costs, or needing classified info access) and associated partners must also meet establishment and control conditions.
  • Entities subject to EU restrictive measures or conditionality measures (e.g., Hungarian public interest trusts) are NOT eligible.
Geographic Location and Control
  • All applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must be established in one of the eligible countries:
    • EU Member States (including Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs)).
    • Listed EEA countries ('EDF Associated Countries').
  • Executive management structure must be established in eligible countries.
  • Must NOT be subject to control by a non-associated third country or non-associated third-country entity (unless approved guarantees are provided by the established Member State/EDF Associated Country).
  • Subcontracted work must be performed in eligible countries.
  • Infrastructure, facilities, assets, and resources used must be located or held in an eligible country (exceptions possible with agreement).
Consortium Composition
  • Multi-beneficiary applications are mandatory.
  • Minimum of 3 independent applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries are required.
Project Scope and Background
  • Proposals must build upon or integrate results from one or several projects funded under an EU programme call with a focus on civil applications.
  • Must fully or partly correspond to the topic description.
  • Must implement the objectives of the EDF Regulation.
  • Must concern new defence products or technologies or the upgrade of existing ones.
  • Must relate to at least one of the eligible types of activities and cover all mandatory types of activities for this topic (Generating knowledge, Integrating knowledge, Studies, Design).
  • Projects whose use, development, or production is prohibited by international law are NOT eligible.
  • Development of lethal autonomous weapons without meaningful human control is NOT eligible (with exceptions for warning/countermeasure systems).
  • Projects where background or results would be subject to control or restriction by a non-associated third country or entity are NOT eligible.
  • Financial support to third parties is NOT allowed.
Financial and Operational Capacity
  • Applicants must have stable and sufficient resources to implement projects and contribute their share.
  • Operational capacity (know-how, qualifications, resources, experience in comparable projects) will be assessed.
  • Public bodies, Member State organisations, and international organisations are exempted from the operational capacity check.
  • Financial capacity check applies to beneficiaries, except for public bodies or if the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60,000.

Application Process

Application Submission
  • Deadline for submission: 2025-10-16 – 17:00:00 CET (Brussels).
  • Submission is electronic via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Paper submissions are NOT accepted.
  • Applications consist of:
    • Application Form Part A: Administrative information, filled directly online.
    • Application Form Part B: Technical description (max 100 pages, counting work package descriptions), uploaded as a PDF within a password-protected ZIP archive.
    • Mandatory Annexes: Detailed budget table/calculator (EDF LS RA), participant information, list of infrastructure/facilities/assets/resources, actual indirect cost methodology declarations, ownership control declarations, PRS declaration (if applicable). Uploaded as PDFs within the same password-protected ZIP archive.
  • The password for the ZIP archive must be emailed to [email protected] before the deadline, along with proposal ID and archive name.
  • For proposals including classified information, contact [email protected] well in advance to arrange delivery (DO NOT submit online).
Application Support
  • Online Manual, Topic Q&A (on Topic page), Portal FAQ for general questions.
  • Email support for non-IT questions: [email protected].
  • IT Helpdesk for technical/submission system issues.
  • Business coaching will be offered to successful SME beneficiaries.
Evaluation and Award Timeline
  • Call Opening: 2025-02-18.
  • Evaluation Period: October 2025 - April 2026.
  • Information on Evaluation Results: April 2026.
  • Grant Agreement Signature: By 2026-12-31.
  • Project Duration: Between 12 and 48 months. Extensions are possible if duly justified.
  • Successful proposals will be invited for grant preparation, which involves fine-tuning technical/financial aspects and potentially adjusting the proposal.
Post-Award Requirements
  • Mandatory deliverables: Progress reports (every 6-12 months) and a Special Report summarising results and details for policy purposes and further development.
  • Consortium agreement is mandatory (recommended for internal arrangements, IP, liability).
  • Compliance with specific ethics rules (ethics deliverables) and security rules (Security Aspects Letter - SAL) for classified information.
  • Compliance with IPR rules (ownership, protection, transfer, licensing, access rights).
  • Communication, dissemination, and visibility requirements apply.
  • Intra-EU transfer of defence-related products must comply with regulations; consortium members advised to agree to be 'end-user' to limit extra authorizations.

Evaluation Criteria

Excellence and Potential of Disruption (Weighted 2x, Max 5 points)
  • Excellence of the overall concept and soundness of the proposed approach (ideas, technologies, methodology).
  • Compliance with the topic's objectives, scope, activities, functional requirements, and expected impact.
  • Extent to which the project's objective/outcome differs from existing defence products/technologies and represents a strategic, technological, or defence operational advantage, or shows potential for disruption in defence.
Innovation and Technological Development (Weighted 2x, Max 5 points)
  • Demonstrated innovation potential, ground-breaking/novel concepts/approaches (e.g., new products, services, business/organizational models).
  • New promising technological improvements, or application of technologies/concepts not previously applied in defence.
  • Integration of existing knowledge and R&D activities (defence/civil) to avoid duplication.
  • Potential for spin-offs to other defence applications/products.
Competitiveness (Weighted 1x, Max 5 points)
  • Foreseen competitive advantage of the product/technology/solution compared to existing/planned solutions (EU and global).
  • Consideration of balance between performance and cost-efficiency.
  • Potential to accelerate growth of companies throughout the EU, including market analysis (size, growth potential, sales volumes).
  • Strength of the IP strategy (e.g., patents) to support competitiveness and growth.
EDTIB Autonomy (Weighted 1x, Max 5 points)
  • Contribution to the autonomy of the EU’s Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) by increasing non-dependency from third countries.
  • Beneficial impact on European security of supply, including creation of new supply chains.
  • Contribution to defence capability priorities agreed by Member States (CFSP, Capability Development Plan). Alignment with regional/international priorities serving EU security/defence interests without excluding any Member State/EDF associated country.
Creation of New Cross-Border Cooperation (Weighted 2x, Max 5 points)
  • Extent to which the project will create new cross-border cooperation between legal entities in Member States or EDF Associated Countries, especially SMEs and mid-caps.
  • Planned future cross-border cooperation and opportunities created by activities.
  • Substantial participation and industrial/technological added value brought by cross-border SMEs and mid-caps.
Implementation (Weighted 1x, Max 5 points)
  • Effectiveness and practicality of the work plan structure (work breakdown, timing, inter-relation of work packages).
  • Usefulness and comprehensiveness of milestones and deliverables; clarity of measurable, realistic, achievable criteria.
  • Appropriateness of management structures and procedures, including decision-making and risk management (identification, assessment, treatments).
  • Appropriateness of task/resource allocation among consortium members, ensuring valid and complementary roles, and high effectiveness/efficiency.
Scoring Details
  • Individual criteria have no minimum pass score.
  • Each criterion scored from 0 to 5 (half-points allowed).
  • Overall threshold: 30 points (out of a maximum 45 points). Proposals must pass this threshold to be considered for funding.
  • Priority Order (for same scores):
    1. Excellence and potential of disruption.
    2. Innovation and technological development.
    3. Competitiveness.
    4. Creation of new cross-border cooperation.
    5. Further prioritisation if needed, based on the number of Member States or EDF Associated Countries with involved applicants.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance
  • Compliance with EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509, EDF Regulation 2021/697, and STEP Regulation 2024/795.
  • Projects must align with EU policy interests and priorities (e.g., environment, social, security, industrial, trade).
  • Projects must respect EU values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters.
Ethics and Security
  • Projects must comply with the highest ethical standards and research integrity.
  • Proposals undergo an ethics review; specific ethics rules may apply via ethics deliverables (e.g., ethics committee opinions).
  • Projects involving classified information undergo security scrutiny. A Security Aspects Letter (SAL) will be annexed to the Grant Agreement detailing specific security rules.
  • Projects involving TRES SECRET UE/EU TOP SECRET (or equivalent) information are NOT fundable.
  • Handling of information classified CONFIDENTIAL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or above (and RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED if national rules require) requires Facility Security Clearance (FSC) for premises and Personnel Security Clearance (PSC) for individuals with a need-to-know.
  • Classified information must be marked in accordance with applicable security instructions.
  • Disclosure of classified information to third parties requires prior written approval from the granting authority.
  • Subcontracting involving classified information requires prior written approval and only to entities in EU MS or non-EU countries with security agreements with the EU.
  • Beneficiaries must ensure projects are not subject to third-country/international organisation security requirements that could affect implementation or grant award.
Intellectual Property (IP) and Data
  • IPR rules are detailed in the Model Grant Agreement, covering:
    • List of background and background free from restrictions.
    • Results free from restrictions.
    • Ownership of results.
    • Protection, transfer, and licensing of results.
    • Rights of use on results.
    • Access to results for policy purposes.
    • Access to the mandatory Special Report.
    • Access rights to further develop results.
  • Data collection, use, and processing of personal data must comply with the applicable legal framework, as detailed in the Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.
Special Project Characteristics
  • This call focuses on "spin-in research actions", meaning proposals must build upon or integrate results from EU programme calls with a focus on civil applications.
  • Successful proposals for this topic and EDF-2025-LS-RA-SI-ENERENV-NH2PS-STEP will be awarded a STEP Seal.
  • Projects contribute to the Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform (STEP) objectives in deep and digital technologies.
  • Consortium agreement is mandatory.
  • No profit rule applies, meaning the grant plus revenues should not exceed costs.
  • No cumulation of funding/no double funding from other EU budget sources (except 'EU Synergies actions'). Each action must be clearly delineated.

Grant Details

defence cybersecurity autonomous vehicles military operations resilience cyber defence unmanned vehicles uxv drones cyber-physical systems ai artificial intelligence digital twins risk management edtib european defence technological and i eu funding lump sum grant research actions spin-in step programme deep technology digital technology security of supply cross-border cooperation sme mid-cap innovation military scenarios threat modeling security controls ethical considerations legal considerations proof of concept military exercises interoperability european commission grant
Risk, robustness and resilience for autonomous vehicles in military operations
EDF-2025-LS-RA-SI-CYBER-3RAV-STEP
European Defence Fund (EDF)
OTHER SME ENTERPRISE PUBLIC
AT BE BG HR CY CZ DK EE FI FR DE GR HU IE IT LV LT LU MT NL PL PT RO SK SI ES SE
DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY OTHER
RESEARCH_DEVELOPMENT
OTHER
FUNDING RESEARCH_DEVELOPMENT CAPACITY_BUILDING MENTORSHIP
20000000.00
None
20000000.00
EUR
100.00
Oct. 16, 2025, 4 p.m.
October 2025 - April 2026