Multi-Disciplinary design and Analysis Framework for Aerial Systems

Grant Purpose and Target

• Core Objective: To develop an advanced, fully-coupled Digital Twin (DT) simulation framework for military aerial systems. The project's goal is to create a multi-disciplinary design and analysis capability that supports the entire lifecycle of aerial platforms, from design and development to operation and maintenance, in order to enhance operational superiority, reduce development costs, and improve safety and reliability.
• Funding Organization: European Commission
• Target Recipients: Consortia of legal entities, such as industrial enterprises, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), Mid-caps, research organizations, and universities.
• Sector Focus: SECTOR-SPECIFIC. The grant is exclusively focused on the Defence and Aerospace sectors, specifically for the development of technologies for military aerial systems.
• Geographic Scope: Applicants must be legal entities established in an EU Member State or Norway (as an EDF Associated Country). The project must involve a consortium from multiple eligible countries.
• Key Filtering Criteria:
  • Project Scale: The topic budget is €28 million, indicating a large-scale research project.
  • Consortium Requirement: A consortium of at least three eligible entities from at least three different EU Member States and/or Norway is required.
  • Technology Focus: Project must focus on Digital Twins (DT), System of Systems (SoS), simulation, and multi-disciplinary analysis for aerial platforms. It is a Research Action, targeting activities like studies and design.

Financial Structure

• Funding Range: The total available budget for this topic is €28,000,000. It is expected that one proposal will be funded for the full amount. Minimum or maximum funding per project is not explicitly defined, but it is implied that the grant will be close to the total topic budget.

• Co-financing: As an EDF Research Action, the funding rate is up to 100% of the total eligible costs. No co-financing from the applicants is required.

• Eligible Costs: Costs must be directly linked to the project and incurred during its duration. Eligible costs are broken down into the following categories:

  • Direct Costs:
    • Personnel costs: Costs for employees, natural persons under direct contract, and seconded persons. Costs for SME owners and natural person beneficiaries without a salary can also be eligible as unit costs.
    • Subcontracting costs: Must be for a limited part of the action, justified, and awarded based on best value for money.
    • Purchase costs: Including travel and subsistence, equipment (generally depreciation costs, with exceptions for full cost eligibility possible if specified), and other goods, works, and services (e.g., consumables, dissemination, publications).
  • Indirect Costs: Can be declared either as a flat-rate of 25% of the eligible direct costs (with some exclusions like subcontracting) or as actual indirect costs if the beneficiary's accounting practices are accepted by national authorities for defence activities.

• Ineligible Costs: Standard EU ineligibility rules apply. These include, but are not limited to:

  • Debt and debt service charges.
  • Provisions for future losses or debts.
  • Interest owed.
  • Currency exchange losses.
  • Deductible or refundable Value Added Tax (VAT).
  • Costs already declared for other EU grants.

• Payment & Reporting: Payments are tied to reporting and deliverables. The structure typically includes:

  • An initial pre-financing payment at the start of the project.
  • Interim payments based on the approval of periodic reports (technical and financial).
  • A final payment (or recovery) after the submission and approval of the final project report.

Eligibility Requirements

• Formal Criteria:

  • Consortium Composition: Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least three independent legal entities established in at least three different EU Member States or EDF Associated Countries (Norway).
  • Eligible Countries: Participants (beneficiaries, affiliated entities) must be established in an EU Member State or Norway. Specific rules apply to subcontractors to ensure they are also from eligible countries and not controlled by non-eligible third countries.
  • Ownership and Control: All participants must not be controlled by a non-eligible third country or a non-eligible third-country entity. An Ownership Control Declaration is required as part of the application.

• Organizational Status:

  • Applicants must be legal entities (e.g., companies, research organizations, universities). Natural persons are not eligible.
  • The consortium can include a mix of large enterprises, SMEs, mid-caps, and research/technology organizations.

• Technical Expertise: The consortium must collectively demonstrate expertise in:

  • Military aerial systems (aerodynamics, structures, flight control).
  • Digital Twin (DT) and System of Systems (SoS) architecture.
  • High-fidelity modelling and simulation, including High-Performance Computing (HPC).
  • Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for predictive analytics.
  • Data management, cybersecurity, and interoperability standards (e.g., HLA/DIS).
  • Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

• Exclusion Criteria:

  • Proposals from single entities or consortia not meeting the minimum size and country requirements will be disqualified.
  • Entities that are subject to control by a non-EU/non-associated country or entity are ineligible.
  • Standard EU exclusion grounds apply (e.g., bankruptcy, grave professional misconduct, fraud).

Application Practical Information

• Deadlines:

  • Call Opening: 18 February 2025
  • Submission Deadline: 16 October 2025 at 17:00 Brussels time (CET/CEST). It is strongly recommended to submit at least 48 hours in advance.

• Required Documents: The application is composed of Part A (administrative forms) and Part B (technical narrative). Key documents to be uploaded to the submission system include:

  • Part B: Technical Description (template provided in the system).
  • Detailed budget table (Excel template for EDF RA).
  • Participant information and list of infrastructure.
  • Ownership control declaration for all participants.
  • CVs for the core project team.
  • Other annexes as specified in the call document.

• Application Process:

  • Submission is fully electronic via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
  • The process is a single-stage submission.
  • The application must be initiated and submitted by the coordinating organisation.
  • All participants must have a valid Participant Identification Code (PIC).

• Support:

  • For questions related to the call, contact: DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS@ec.europa.eu.
  • The European Commission organizes EDF Info Days to provide guidance to potential applicants.
  • An IT Helpdesk is available for technical issues with the portal.

• Post-Award Obligations:

  • Beneficiaries must sign a Grant Agreement and accede to it.
  • Consortium Agreement: A consortium agreement governing the internal relations between partners is mandatory.
  • Reporting: Regular technical and financial reporting is required through the EU Portal, including continuous reporting of deliverables and milestones, and periodic reports for payments.
  • Audits and Reviews: The European Commission may conduct reviews and audits for up to 5 years after the final payment.
  • Security Compliance: Adherence to all security requirements, including those in the Security Aspects Letter (SAL), is mandatory.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals will be evaluated based on a set of weighted criteria as defined for European Defence Fund (EDF) Research Actions. The evaluation focuses on the project's contribution to the EU's defence capabilities and industrial base. The main scoring factors are:

• Excellence and Potential for Disruption

  • Overall concept: The clarity and excellence of the proposed approach, including its core ideas, technologies, and methodology.
  • Objectives and Scope: How well the proposal addresses the specific objectives, scope, functional requirements, and expected impacts outlined in the topic description.
  • Advantage and disruptive potential: The extent to which the project's outcome represents a significant advantage or disruption compared to existing defence products or technologies.

• Innovation and Technological Development

  • Innovation potential: The level of innovation, including ground-breaking concepts, new technological improvements, or the application of new technologies in the defence sector.
  • Complementarity: How the proposal integrates existing knowledge and avoids duplication with previous or ongoing R&D activities, particularly with topic EDF-2022-DA-SIMTRAIN-MSSI.
  • Potential for spin-offs: The potential for the developed technologies to be applied to other defence applications and products.

• Competitiveness

  • Competitive advantage: The foreseen competitive advantage of the resulting product or technology, balancing performance and cost-efficiency.
  • Growth potential: The project's ability to accelerate the growth of companies throughout the EU, supported by a market analysis.
  • Intellectual property (IP) strategy: The strategy for managing and protecting intellectual property generated by the project.

• EDTIB Autonomy

  • Contribution to EDTIB: How the action contributes to the autonomy of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) by reducing dependency on third countries.
  • Security of supply: The project's beneficial impact on the European security of supply, including the creation of new supply chains.
  • Alignment with priorities: How the outcome contributes to defence capability priorities agreed upon by Member States.

• Creation of New Cross-border Cooperation

  • New cooperation: The extent to which the action creates new cross-border cooperation between legal entities.
  • SME and Mid-cap participation: The extent of participation and the added value provided by cross-border SMEs and mid-caps is a specific evaluation point.

• Implementation

  • Work plan: The quality and effectiveness of the work plan, including the breakdown into work packages, milestones, and deliverables.
  • Consortium setup: The quality and complementarity of the consortium members and the clarity of their roles and responsibilities.
  • Management and risk: The robustness of the project management structures, decision-making mechanisms, quality assurance, and risk mitigation strategies.
  • Cost-effectiveness: The justification of the budget and measures to ensure cost-effective implementation.

Compliance and Special Requirements

• Regulatory Compliance:

  • Ethics: Proposals must complete an ethics self-assessment. The project must comply with all applicable EU, international, and national laws on ethical principles.
  • Data Protection: Participants must comply with GDPR and other data protection regulations.

• IP Policy: The rules are detailed in Annex 5 of the EDF Model Grant Agreement. Key points include:

  • Ownership: Results are owned by the beneficiaries that generate them.
  • Access Rights: Beneficiaries must grant each other access to background information needed for the project. The EU and Member States' authorities receive certain access rights for policy and security purposes.
  • Transfer Restrictions: Transferring ownership or granting exclusive licenses for results to entities in non-eligible countries requires prior approval from the granting authority to protect EU security and defence interests.

• Unique Aspects:

  • Synergy Requirement: Proposals must substantiate synergies and complementarity with activities from the call topic EDF-2022-DA-SIMTRAIN-MSSI. Failure to do so may impact the evaluation.
  • Mandatory Activities: The scope explicitly lists mandatory tasks under 'Studies' and 'Design', including the development of a concept of operations (CONOPS) and an initial demonstrator.
  • Security Framework: The project is subject to a strict security framework. The Grant Agreement will include a Security Aspects Letter (SAL) and a Security Classification Guide (SCG). The handling of EU Classified Information (EUCI) is governed by Commission Decision (EU, Euratom) 2015/444.

• Industry-Specific Rules:

  • EDF Regulation 2021/697: This is the legal basis for the grant and outlines the core objectives and rules of the European Defence Fund.
  • Security Clearances: For tasks involving classified information at CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or SECRET UE/EU SECRET levels, participants (facilities and personnel) must hold appropriate Facility Security Clearances (FSC) and Personnel Security Clearances (PSC). These are verified by the National Security Authorities (NSA/DSA).