New turbofan engine
Develop a new 25-35 kN turbofan engine for unmanned aerial vehicles using kerosene, hydrogen, and sustainable fuels.
This call seeks proposals to design a new turbofan engine for unmanned aerial vehicles. The engine should provide optimal thrust and electrical power and operate on kerosene, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuels. The project supports military requirements and defence technology innovation.
Likely relevant for
- Aerospace engine manufacturers
- Defence technology developers
- Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system integrators
- Sustainable aviation fuel researchers
- Hydrogen fuel technology developers
Project signals
What it funds
- Research and development of a new turbofan engine for unmanned aerial vehicles
- Engine capable of operating on kerosene, hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuels
- Meeting military performance requirements for thrust and electrical power
- Activities including knowledge generation, integration, studies, and design
Expected outcomes
- A turbofan engine in the 25-35 kN thrust range meeting military UAV needs
- Capability to operate on multiple fuel types including sustainable options
- Advancement of defence technology in line with STEP objectives
Who can apply / participate
- Research organisations
- Industry partners
- Consortia including multiple entities
- Proposals should build upon or integrate results from previous EU-funded civil aviation projects with rights to use and commercialise those results.
- Eligible countries as described in section 6 of the call document.
- Applicants must comply with admissibility and eligibility conditions in the call document.
- Rights to use prior project results must be secured.
- Specific country eligibility list
- Exact consortium composition rules
Must check before shortlisting
- Eligibility criteria in call document section 6
- Rights to use and commercialise prior EU project results
- Compliance with EDF Lump Sum Grant conditions
Money
Indicative budget of EUR 20 million for this topic under the EDF-2026-RA-SI call.
- Indicative budget for 2026 — 20000000EURBudget allocated for the development of the new turbofan engine.
Application notes
- Single-stage submission model.
- Proposal page limits and layout as described in section 5 of the call document and Part B of the Application Form.
- Eligibility and admissibility conditions as per sections 6 and 7 of the call document.
- Evaluation and award criteria detailed in sections 8 and 9 of the call document.
- Legal and financial set-up described in section 10 of the call document.
- Use of standard EDF Lump Sum Grant application forms and templates.
- Prepare proposal following call document guidelines.
- Submit proposal via the Funding & Tenders Portal before the deadline.
- Ensure compliance with eligibility and admissibility criteria.
- Use provided application templates and forms.
- Applicants must have rights to use and commercialise prior EU project results.
- Check all eligibility and admissibility conditions carefully.
- Follow the specific page limits and formatting requirements.
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 7 Jul 2026, 12:16 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: An unmanned aerial vehicle used as unmanned loyal wingman/unmanned combat aerial vehicle requires specific performance for a variety of mission profiles to meet storage, deployment and operational requirements. In particular, an engine that provides optimum thrust and electrical power capabilities is required to meet these performance requirements. Against this background, the aim of this topic is to investigate a new turbofan engine in the range of approximately 25-35 kN that meets all feasible military requirements and is capable of operating on kerosene, hydrogen (H2) and sustainable aviation fuel. 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: Generating knowledge, integrating knowledge, studies and design. Indicative budget: EUR 20 000 000 for this topic under the EDF-2026-RA-SI call. The proposals need to build upon or integrate results that have been achieved within one or several projects funded following an EU programme call with a focus on civil applications and for which applicants will have the necessary rights to use and commercialise the results. Indicative number of proposals to be funded: Several proposals may 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 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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