On July 20, 2022, the European Commission announced its intention to provide a total of nearly €1.2 billion in EU funding for 61 collaborative defense research and development projects selected from the first-ever calls for proposals under the European Defense Fund (EDF). On December 5, it confirmed this investment.
The European Defence Fund (EDF), the Commission's flagship instrument to support defence cooperation in Europe, aims to foster cooperation between companies of all sizes and research actors across the EU. It supports competitive and collaborative defense projects throughout the R&D cycle.
The EU has thus decided to invest in cutting-edge defense capability projects, such as the next generation of combat aircraft, tanks and armored ships, as well as in critical defense technologies, such as AI, military cloud, semiconductors, space, cyberspace or medical countermeasures. The EDF will thus spearhead disruptive technologies, particularly in the field of quantum technologies and new materials, and will leverage promising SMEs and start-ups.
Margrethe Vestager, had declared in July:
"The excellent projects selected have shown that defense industrial cooperation in Europe can become a reality, even on a large scale. The almost 700 companies that will be working on the research and development of the next generation of innovative defense technologies with EU funding will provide the impetus for a resilient and competitive industrial base. The fact that SMEs represent 43% of the entities participating in the selected projects shows that the European Defense Fund program does indeed address the entire EU industrial value chain."
'SMEs represent about 43% of project leaders. EDF funding will be directed to the following categories:
- Air combat (approximately €190 million);
- Land combat (about 155 million euros);
- Naval combat (about 103 million euros);
- Air missile defense (about 100 million euros);
- Space-related projects will be supported with about 50 million euros;
- Cyber defence: 38 million euros will be invested in R&D projects in this field.