European Defence Fund calls and consortia explained

How the European Defence Fund works

Budget and split

The fund holds about 7.95 billion euro in current prices for 2021 to 2027. Roughly a third goes to research actions, which can be funded up to 100 percent of eligible costs, and two thirds to development actions such as design, prototypes, testing and qualification, which are co-financed with the member states.

Calls

The European Commission adopts a work programme each year with call topics across air, land, naval, space, cyber, medical, energy and disruptive technologies. Proposals are submitted through the EU Funding and Tenders portal and evaluated by independent experts.

The consortium rule

A proposal needs at least three eligible legal entities established in at least three different member states or associated countries (Norway is associated), not controlled by the same entity. Entities and their executive management must be in the EU or an associated country and not controlled by non-associated third countries unless guarantees are approved.

Room for SMEs

Calls reward the cross-border participation of small and mid-sized enterprises, and some topics are reserved for SMEs and research organisations. Being the specialist supplier in a consortium led by a prime is the most common route in.