Smart technologies for next generation fighter systems
Funding for smart technologies in next-gen military fighter systems, focusing on modular avionics and defence air cloud.
This call funds development of smart technologies for next generation fighter systems. It targets military integrated modular avionics for manned and unmanned aircraft. Activities include design, prototyping, and demonstrations within a defence air cloud context.
Likely relevant for
- Defence technology developers
- Military avionics engineers
- Aerospace R&D organizations
- Defence system integrators
- Technology prototyping specialists
Project signals
What it funds
- Development of smart technologies for next generation military fighter systems
- Exploration of future architectures for military integrated modular avionics
- Proofs of concept, demonstrations, and prototypes for avionics systems
- Technologies applicable to manned and unmanned military aerial platforms
- Integration within a defence air cloud environment
Expected outcomes
- Advanced modular avionics architectures for military aircraft
- Demonstrated prototypes and proofs of concept
- Enhanced interoperability of manned and unmanned platforms
- Contributions to STEP defence technology objectives
Who can apply / participate
- Defence industry companies
- Research organizations
- Technology developers
- Consortia including multiple eligible entities
- Check call document for consortium composition rules
- Eligibility as per call document section 6
- Refer to call document section 6 for detailed eligibility conditions
- Specific country eligibility and consortium size must be verified in call document
Must check before shortlisting
- Eligibility criteria in call document section 6
- Consortium requirements and country eligibility
- Specific technical scope alignment
Money
EUR 25 million allocated for this topic under EDF-2026-DA call.
- Total indicative budget — 25000000EURIndicative budget for this topic in 2026
Application notes
- Single-stage submission model.
- Proposal page limits and layout as per call document section 5 and application form Part B.
- Eligibility and admissibility conditions detailed in call document section 6.
- Financial and operational capacity requirements in call document section 7.
- Evaluation criteria and award process described in call document sections 8 and 9.
- Legal and financial setup in call document section 10.
- Refer to call document and annexes for full application details.
- Prepare proposal following call document and application form templates.
- Submit proposal via Funding & Tenders Portal before deadline.
- Ensure compliance with eligibility and admissibility criteria.
- Contact DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS@ec.europa.eu for support if needed.
- Check eligibility and consortium requirements carefully.
- Budget and funding rates may vary; verify in call document.
- Only one or few proposals expected to be funded depending on quality and budget.
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 7 Jul 2026, 12:12 UTC. Use this as a shortlisting aid; the official call text remains authoritative.
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Official source text
Fine print from the EU source record. Expand when you need the original wording.
Topic description
Scope: The objective of this topic is to follow up and complement previous activities in the field of smart technologies for next generation fighter systems. It aims to explore future architectures and develop key technologies, including with proofs of concept, demonstrations and prototypes, for the next generation of military integrated modular avionics for use on a variety of military aerial platforms, both manned and unmanned aircraft, in the context of a defence air cloud. This topic contributes to the STEP objectives as defined in the STEP Regulation in the target investment area of defence technologies. Targeted types of activities: Integrating knowledge, studies, design and system prototyping, not excluding upstream and downstream activities eligible for development actions. Indicative budget: EUR 25 000 000 for this topic under the EDF-2026-DA call. Indicative number of proposals to be funded: One proposal is to be funded for this topic. However, depending on the quality of the proposals submitted and the budget available, more than one proposal may ultimately be funded for this topic.
Conditions and documents
Conditions
1. Admissibility Conditions: Proposal page limit and layout
described in section 5 of the call document.
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System.
2. Eligible Countries
described in section 6 of the call document.
3. Other Eligible Conditions
described in section 6 of the call document.
4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion
described in section 7 of the call document.
5a. Evaluation and award: Submission and evaluation processes
described section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual.
5b. Evaluation and award: Award criteria, scoring and thresholds
described in section 9 of the call document.
5c. Evaluation and award: Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement
described in section 4 of the call document.
6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants
described in section 10 of the call document.
Call document and annexes:
Application form templates
Standard application form (EDF) — the application form specific to this call is available in the Submission System
Detailed budget table (EDF DA)
List of infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources (EDF)
Cofinancing declaration (EDF DA, DA LS AND ASAP)
Actual indirect cost methodology declaration (EDF)
Harmonised capability declaration (EDF DA AND DA LS)
Declaration on procurement intent and common specifications (EDF DA AND DA LS)
Model Grant Agreements (MGA)
Additional documents:
EDF Programme Security Instruction (PSI)
Guidelines on FSTP implementation - WP2026
EU Financial Regulation 2024/2509
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual
Support information
For help related to this call, please contact DEFIS-EDF-PROPOSALS@ec.europa.eu Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ – Submission of proposals . IT Helpdesk – Contact the IT helpdesk for questions such as forgotten passwords, access rights and roles, technical aspects of submission of proposals, etc. Online Manual – Step-by-step online guide through the Portal processes from proposal preparation and evaluation to reporting on your ongoing project. Valid for all 2021-2027 programmes.
Raw budget overview
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