The EU Commission is investing EUR 910 million under the 2024 European Defence Fund (EDF) to create a strong and innovative defence industry in Europe.
With the investments the EU is aiming to close key capability gaps – such as force mobility and drone defence – through innovation and collaboration projects across European science and industry.
In this edition of the EDF, Ukrainian defence industries can for the first time be associated to EDF projects.
Strengthened cooperation between the Ukrainian and European defence industries builds on outreach efforts by the EU Defence Innovation Office in Kyiv to foster closer ties and to further integrate Ukraine into the European defence industrial base, reinforcing shared security and innovation objectives.
“The selected proposals support the development of critical capabilities such as air and missile defence systems and unmanned aerial vehicles, which will enable European armed forces to respond to emerging threats and protect our citizens, whether it’s through strengthening our collective defence or supporting our partners, like Ukraine, in their efforts to defend themselves against foreign aggression,” said Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius.
The fourth edition of the EDF calls has seen unprecedented interest from the EU defence industry and research organisations, according to the Commission, attracting a record number of 299 proposals, bringing together 625 legal entities from 25 EU Member States or Norway. This, it adds, highlights growing appetite for pan-European cooperation and joint strategic defence capability development. SMEs are playing an important role in the selected proposals, accounting for over 38% of all participating entities and receiving more than 27% of the total EU funding requested. In the selected projects, over €360 million are assigned to 39 research projects and €539 million to 23 capability development projects.
Following the selection of the successful proposals, the Commission will now enter into the grant agreement preparation with the consortia, with the goal of signing agreements before the end of the year. The resulting projects will be instrumental in shaping the future of European defence, fostering a collaborative and innovative defence ecosystem, and enhancing the EU’s strategic capabilities over the next few years.
Overview factsheet and individual project factsheets per selected proposal
Factsheet of the 2024 European Defence Fund Work Programme and Calls
