EU To Invest 193 Million € In Naval Defense Projects
The European Commission announced the results of the 2022 calls for proposals under the European Defence Fund (EDF) amounting to €832 million of EU funding in support of 41 joint defence research and development projects across the EU.
Xavier Vavasseur 27 Jun 2023
Six R&D project with Naval applications have been selected, from railgun technology to collaborative combat, for a total EU funding of 193 millions Euros.
According to a European Commission press release: The selected projects will help further develop EU’s high-end defence capabilities in critical areas such as, naval, ground, air combat, space-based early warning and cyber. For example, in the Naval field, the E-NACSOS project will focus on a new collaborative standard for anti-air and missile defence. In the Air category, the project REACTII will improve the resilience and management for electronic warfare. Another project in the space domain, ODIN’S EYE II, will build on the progress on space-based missile early warning and will gather industry from 14 EU Member States and Norway to increase European capability in this area. The EDF will also directly contribute to Cyber defence in three specific research and development projects.
The outcome of the 2022 calls reaffirms that the EDF contributes to the EU’s strategic autonomy and to creating a more competitive and integrated European defence technological and industrial base. The 2022 call results also confirm the strong interest and active engagement of the EU defence industry in all call topics and demonstrate their strong commitment to the ambition pursued through the programme. Selected consortia bring together 550 entities from across the EU and Norway and strongly involve SMEs, which represent 39% of all entities.
The European defence industry submitted, by 24 November 2022, 134 proposals for joint defence R&D projects in response to the 2022 European Defence Fund (EDF) calls for proposals, reflecting all the thematic priorities identified by the Member States with the support of the Commission.
Executive Vice-President, Margrethe Vestager, said: “The defence industry needs to continue to innovate to prepare for security threats. The results of the 2022 calls confirm the high interest of EU industry in the European Defence Fund (EDF). No less than 134 high-quality proposals competed for funding, out of which 41 were selected. With the help of the EDF National Focal Points that are also actively supported under this year’s budget, the Fund starts to get known beyond the circle of the traditional defence actors. We can be proud that SMEs account for 39% of the entities participating in selected projects. It demonstrates the attractiveness of the Fund to small and often new defence players”.
Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said: “Through the European Defence Fund, the EU invests in technologies and capabilities against emerging and future threats — in naval, ground, air, space or cyber — with a specific focus this year on air defence capacities, electronic warfare and cyber-defence. The EDF is a strong contribution to Europe’s freedom of action, technological leadership and more integrated European defence industrial basis. The projects undertaken this year demonstrate that European Member States, through effective cooperation, are building a stronger European Defence.”
EU Naval Defense R&D Projects
Six projects with naval applications have been selected by the European Commission, under the European Defence Fund (EDF), amounting to €193 million of EU funding. Here are more details about each one of them:
E-NACSOS
The European Naval Collaborative Surveillance Operational Standard (E-NACSOS) project aims to ensure superiority at sea of EU naval surface vessels while securing the EU naval surveillance sovereignty by developing novel protocols, interfaces and target architecture enabling to tackle new and asymmetric threats from Anti-Air-Warfare / Air & Missile Defence domain. E-NACSOS will improve the ability to identify, classify and track those threats.
Related PESCO project: EU Collaborative Warfare Capabilities (ECoWAR).
Estimated total cost: 101,388,327.64 €.
Maximum EU contribution: 64,999,998.74 €.
EUROGUARD
The EUROpean Goal based mUlti mission Autonomous naval Reference platform Development (EUROGUARD) contributes to the need for more rapid response capabilities by well-coordinated EU naval vessel fleets with advanced platform and weapon systems’ technologies EUROGUARD will integrate innovative EU technologies, into a demonstrator vessel able to carry several modular mission modules to demonstrate, in a representative environment, autonomous operation for a number of coastal operations. EUROGUARD will enable EU navies to further explore the feasibility to use of medium sized semi-autonomous vessels either working independently or as part of a fleet.
Related PESCO project: Medium Size Semi-Autonomous Surface Vehicle (M-SASV)
Estimated total cost: 95,021,353.98 €.
Maximum EU contribution: 65,000,000.00 €.
SWAT-SHOAL
The SWArm and Teaming operation of manned & unmanned underwater vehicle SHOAL (SWAT-SHOAL) develops a concept of a system-of-systems, based on swarming technologies, to integrate manned and unmanned naval assets, collaborating effectively as a team to achieve greater performance and efficiency in a broad spectrum of underwater missions against moving subsurface threats. The system will enable that different vehicle types, working in a team as a single unit, can face more complex scenarios, or that they are organized as a squad assigning a defined task to each platform.
Estimated total cost: 25,000,000.00 €.
Maximum EU contribution: 25,000,000.00 €.
SCUALE
The Sustainable Components for Underwater Acoustics using Lead-free materials in Europe (SCUALE) project aims to study, develop and produce advanced lead-free materials and components to replace PZT (Lead Zirconate Titanate) existing ceramics with improved performance for military underwater acoustics applications. The overarching goal of SCUALE project is to initiate the establishment of at least one European supply chain of lead-free piezoelectric materials that are suitable for underwater acoustics military applications.
Estimated total cost: 19,331,577.00 €.
Maximum EU contribution: 19,331,577.00 €.
THEMA
The TecHnology for ElectroMagnetic Artillery (THEMA) project will maturate electromagnetic gun critical components, notably the pulsed-power supply, the electromagnetic railgun and the hypervelocity projectile. It will offer a hypersonic interceptor with enhanced precision and lethality to defeat the main challenging threats. Electromagnetic gun is expected to complement other defensive means like missiles and guns, and could be adapted to various naval platforms and land permanent air defence systems.
Estimated total cost: 14,991,939.22 €.
Maximum EU contribution: 14,991,939.22 €.
PASITHEA
PASITHEA aims to develop a Hybrid Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle system that will operate in land, sea and air platforms and units. PASITHEA will develop Hybrid Autonomous Unmanned Vehicles (HAUV) combining Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Unmanned Underwater Vehicle technologies. The vehicles will be able to fly, hover in the air and sail under the water and to repeat air water trans-media motions. The HAUV will be able to be launched, operated and controlled by land, sea, and air platforms and units. The project includes the design of a Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence system.
Estimated total cost: 3,998,845.08 €.
Maximum EU contribution: 3,998,844.89 €.
https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/20 ... -projects/
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