AI-based tactical situational awareness using swarms of small robots and drones – participation in a technological challenge"
AI-driven tactical situational awareness with robot and drone swarms for soldier protection, tested in realistic scenarios up to TRL 6.
This call funds AI-based solutions using swarms of small robots and drones to improve tactical situational awareness for soldiers. Projects should develop and test technologies for threat detection and neutralisation in realistic scenarios. Funding supports research actions aiming to reach Technology Readiness Level 6.
Likely relevant for
- Defence technology developers
- AI and robotics researchers
- Drone and sensor technology companies
- Military research organisations
- Technology readiness level advancement projects
Project signals
What it funds
- Development of AI-based tactical situational awareness systems using swarms of small robots and drones
- Integration of intelligent robots, drones, and sensing technologies for threat detection and recognition
- Testing solutions in realistic scenarios to reach TRL 6
- Participation in a common technological challenge with experiment campaigns
- Research actions including upstream and downstream activities
Expected outcomes
- Advanced detection and recognition of hidden threats
- Improved soldier protection through situational awareness
- Validated technologies demonstrated in comparable, objective tests
- Contributions to STEP objectives in deep and digital technologies
Who can apply / participate
- Research organisations
- Industry including SMEs and large companies
- Defence technology developers
- Consortia of multiple entities
- Consortium requirements and eligible countries detailed in call document section 6
- Eligibility of countries as per call document section 6
- Must comply with admissibility and eligibility conditions in call document
- Exact consortium size and composition requirements
- Specific country eligibility details
Must check before shortlisting
- Eligibility criteria in call document section 6
- Consortium composition and country eligibility
- Budget limits and lump sum grant conditions
Money
EUR 23 million total budget for this topic with individual EU contributions up to EUR 4.6 million per proposal.
- Total topic budget — 23000000EURIndicative budget for this topic under EDF-2026-LS-RA-CHALLENGE call
- Maximum EU contribution per proposal — 4600000EURRequested funding cannot exceed this amount
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 in call document section 6
- Financial and operational capacity requirements in call document section 7
- Evaluation criteria and award process in call document section 8 and 9
- Legal and financial setup in call document section 10
- Use of EDF Lump Sum Grant Model Grant Agreement
- Prepare proposal following call document and application form templates
- Submit proposal via Funding & Tenders Portal before deadline
- Participate in evaluation process as described in call document
- Check eligibility criteria carefully before applying
- Ensure compliance with page limits and formatting
- Participation requires involvement in technological challenge and experiment campaigns
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 7 Jul 2026, 12:15 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: Assisting soldiers with robots and drones that can provide accurate tactical situational awareness by using AI becomes essential for soldier protection. This call topic aims to follow on and complement previous activities in the field of hidden threat detection and explore solutions involving various combinations of intelligent robots, drones and sensing technologies for advanced detection and recognition of threats, in view of their avoidance or neutralisation. These solutions should be tested under realistic scenarios in a comparable and objective manner to reach up to Technical Readiness Level (TRL) 6. For that purpose, each consortium supported through this call topic will benefit from a common testing environment set up as part of a technological challenge and will have to participate in the experiment campaigns organised with this objective. Beyond defence technologies, this topic also contributes to the STEP objectives as defined in the STEP Regulation in the target investment area of deep and digital technologies. Targeted types of activities: Generating knowledge, not excluding upstream and downstream activities eligible for research actions. Indicative budget: EUR 23 000 000 for this topic under the EDF-2026-LS-RA-CHALLENGE call. Indicative number of proposals to be funded: Several proposals may be funded for this topic. Range of the financial contribution of the EU per proposal: The requested funding cannot exceed EUR 4 600 000.
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 LS RA)
List of infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources (EDF)
Actual indirect cost methodology declaration (EDF)
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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