Enhanced medium-size semi-autonomous surface vessels
Develop universal fast-moving medium-size semi-autonomous surface vessels for littoral and naval missions.
This call funds development of medium-size semi-autonomous surface vessels for coastal defense and naval warfare. It supports design, prototyping, testing, and qualification activities. The goal is to enhance adaptability and autonomy of these vessels for various missions.
Likely relevant for
- Defence technology developers
- Naval engineering firms
- Autonomous systems researchers
- Maritime security organizations
- Military R&D institutions
Project signals
What it funds
- Development of medium-size semi-autonomous surface vessels
- Design review and concept improvement from previous EDF projects
- Prototyping, testing, and qualification of vessel platforms and autonomy packages
- Development of information and data management systems
- Creation of specific mission modules adaptable to naval warfare
Expected outcomes
- Universal fast-moving platform suitable for littoral environments
- Enhanced coastal defense capabilities
- Modular and adaptable vessel design for future missions
- Validated and qualified autonomous maritime systems
Who can apply / participate
- Defence industry companies
- Research organizations
- Consortia including SMEs and large enterprises
- Academic institutions with relevant expertise
- Consortium requirements and eligible countries detailed in call document section 6
- Eligibility based on EDF call document section 6
- Applicants must meet admissibility and eligibility conditions as per call document
- Exact consortium size and composition rules
- Specific country eligibility list
Must check before shortlisting
- Specific eligibility criteria in call document section 6
- Consortium composition and country eligibility
- Budget allocation and funding rates
- Submission requirements and page limits
Money
EUR 90 million allocated for this topic under EDF-2026-DA call.
- Total indicative budget — 90000000EURIndicative budget for the 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 in call document sections 8 and 9.
- Legal and financial setup described in call document section 10.
- Prepare proposal according to call document and application form templates.
- Submit proposal via Funding & Tenders Portal before deadline.
- Ensure compliance with all eligibility and admissibility criteria.
- Check updated call document for corrections to study tasks.
- Review all annexes and guidelines linked in call document.
- Confirm eligibility of participants and consortium composition before submission.
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 7 Jul 2026, 12:13 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 aim of this topic is to follow up and complement previous activities already supported by the EDF in the field of medium-size semi-autonomous surface vessels, with a view to developing a universal fast-moving platform for the specific conditions of the littoral environment, providing enhanced coastal defence capabilities based on different mission modules, but also adaptable to other future naval warfare missions. In particular, this topic aims to review concepts and designs developed and implemented following the EDF call topic EDF-2022-DA-NAVAL-MSAS, while enabling new design, prototyping, testing and qualification activities concerning the platform and its autonomy package, and addressing information/data management and specific mission modules. 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: Studies, design, system prototyping, testing and qualification, not excluding upstream and downstream activities eligible for development actions. Indicative budget: EUR 90 000 000 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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