Multidomain sensors demonstrator and test
Develop a demonstrator for advanced radar sensors to detect hypersonic and UAV threats using AI and cognitive methods.
This call seeks proposals to develop a radar sensor demonstrator addressing challenges in detecting hypersonic vehicles and UAVs. It focuses on innovative technologies like AI to improve radar detection and tracking. The goal is to reduce risks for future full sensor development in military operations.
Likely relevant for
- Radar technology developers
- AI and cognitive method researchers
- Defence technology companies
- Military research organizations
- Sensor system integrators
Project signals
What it funds
- Development of an engineering demonstrator for radar sensors
- Technologies addressing hypersonic vehicle detection challenges
- Anti-UAV radar detection, identification, and tracking
- Innovative AI and cognitive methods for radar waveform and signal processing
- Feasibility and maturity demonstration of radar technologies for military use
Expected outcomes
- A demonstrator showcasing innovative radar sensor capabilities
- Improved radar detection and tracking performance against hypersonic and UAV threats
- Reduced risks for future full sensor development projects
- Contribution to deep and digital technologies in defence
Who can apply / participate
- Research organizations
- Defence industry companies
- Consortia including relevant expertise
- Check call document for consortium composition rules
- Eligible countries as per call document section 6
- Refer to call document section 6 for detailed eligibility conditions
- Specific consortium size and composition requirements
- Exact eligible countries list
Must check before shortlisting
- Eligibility criteria in call document section 6
- Consortium requirements and country eligibility
- Budget and funding rate details
- Specific evaluation criteria and thresholds
Money
Indicative budget of EUR 20 million for this topic under the EDF-2026-RA call.
- Total indicative budget — 20000000EURFor this specific topic under EDF-2026-RA
Application notes
- Single-stage submission model.
- Proposal page limits and layout as per call document section 5 and application form Part B.
- Eligibility conditions in call document section 6.
- Financial and operational capacity requirements in call document section 7.
- Evaluation and award criteria in call document section 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 admissibility and eligibility conditions.
- Check all eligibility and consortium rules in call document before applying.
- Evaluation criteria and thresholds must be met for funding.
- Budget and funding conditions may vary; verify in call document.
Derived from official EU Funding portal source · updated 7 Jul 2026, 12:17 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 high speed and significant manoeuvrability of hypersonic vehicles, particularly hypersonic glide vehicles, create difficult conditions for target detection and tracking, which are exacerbated by changes in radar cross section characteristics. Radar waveforms and signal processing become essential to counter the effects induced by hypersonic threat dynamics. In addition, the last decade has seen a global increase in the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for battlefield intelligence gathering and reconnaissance. Anti-UAV radars therefore need to be developed to detect, identify and track such systems. Innovative approaches (e.g. AI and cognitive methods) can provide the means to select the best waveform receiver filter combination to maximise radar detection and tracking performance also using a feedback loop between the received and transmitted signal characteristics. This topic therefore focuses on the development of an engineering development model (i.e. demonstrator) capable of supporting tasks such as demonstrating the maturity of innovative technologies in the radar domain and supporting the feasibility of implementing such technologies in terms of time, investment cost, complexity and applicability to military operations. The ultimate aim is to reduce the risks associated with future full sensor development that includes these features. 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 and integrating knowledge, studies and design. Indicative budget: EUR 20 000 000 for this topic under the EDF-2026-RA 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 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 please add a contact e-mail or url 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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