Advanced underwater networks

The EDF-2025-DA-UWW-AUWN-STEP grant focuses on the development of advanced underwater network technologies for defense applications under the European Defence Fund (EDF). It seeks to enhance the capabilities of the EU in underwater warfare and is open to consortia of at least two legal entities from different EU Member States or EDF Associated Countries. Eligible participants may include small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), large companies, research institutions, and public-private partnerships.

The type of funding provided is actual cost grants, with an indicative budget of EUR 25 million allocated to this topic. Each proposal can request up to EUR 9.8 million. The call emphasizes that projects should be in the development phase and require a single-stage application process, with a deadline set for October 16, 2025.

Beneficiary entities must be based in EU Member States and associated countries. The grant is aimed at improving defense technology related to naval operations, specifically focusing on underwater networks to facilitate communication for submarines and surface vessels. While there is an implied requirement for co-funding, further specifics are not explicitly stated.

The applications must tackle various aspects of underwater warfare, including anti-submarine warfare, mine countermeasures, and intelligence gathering. The projects should integrate innovative technologies, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, to improve operations, support interoperability, and enhance strategic competitiveness in defense.

In summary, the grant is designed to foster the development of a new generation of unmanned underwater super systems that are interoperable, modular, and adaptable, addressing challenges such as communication gaps and technology compatibility in challenging underwater environments. The outcome aims to fill capability gaps in EU Member States' armed forces and contribute to the EU's overall defense strategy.

This is a call for proposals under the European Defence Fund (EDF) for development actions related to advanced underwater networks, specifically topic EDF-2025-DA-UWW-AUWN-STEP. The call aims to enhance the security of EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries in areas such as Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Seabed Warfare (SBW), Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Special Forces (SF) Support, Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), protection of critical infrastructure, and situational awareness. It also seeks to promote synergies within the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) by developing common interoperable standards, avoiding duplications, and reducing development risks and costs, ultimately improving EU's strategic competitiveness and autonomy.

The objective is to address the rapid changes in military operational strategies due to the emergence of unmanned systems in all military domains, particularly focusing on EU capabilities to operate and coordinate unmanned systems in the underwater warfare domain (UWW). The call acknowledges the limitations of these systems due to challenging underwater environments and technology gaps, such as low communication range/bandwidth, lack of satellite navigation, poor visibility, incompatible technologies, and missing common interoperable standards. It builds upon ongoing research in underwater observation, detection, acquisition, and communications to evaluate critical technologies for detecting underwater threats and improving situational awareness. The call recognizes the existence of various unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) and stationary systems in Europe but notes the lack of satisfactory manned-unmanned teaming and swarms (UTS) technology to fully utilize available synergies and enhance mission performance for navies. It also highlights the underutilization of infrastructure elements like offshore wind farms and power cables in this context and the challenges faced by current UUVs regarding performance, incompatible subsystems, and limited retrofit capabilities.

The specific objective is to develop a new generation of Unmanned Underwater Super Systems (UUSS) and networks, aiming for a technology maturity level (TRL) of up to 7, potentially TRL 8 at the subsystem level. The goal is to meet the specific needs of future UTS missions and demonstrate these systems in operational seawater environments. The call emphasizes that current UUVs and fixed infrastructure should natively support UTS through common, non-proprietary, and interoperable standards, avoiding the limitations of retrofit solutions. The UUSS technical elements can vary significantly in size, range, endurance, payload, onboard systems, level of autonomy, and collaboration capabilities with unmanned vehicles (UxV) from different domains (air, ground, sea, subsea), depending on the requirements and concept of operations (manned-unmanned teaming, swarms, squads, detection and manipulation of objects). The development should leverage results from prior EU underwater research activities to design and develop operationally relevant systems. This call contributes to the STEP objectives, focusing on deep and digital technologies.

The scope includes surveying and analyzing requirements and concepts of operations across EU Member States’ and EDF Associated Countries’ armed forces to cover a wide range of use cases and avoid duplications or incompatible technology developments. The outcomes should inform conceptual design studies of different UUSS types, considering factors such as system performance and technologies (endurance, range, dive depth, payload, energy sources, propulsion types, concept of operations, mission profiles, deployment capabilities), mass, dimensions, and shape (existing systems, logistics), and sustainability and innovation management (integration of subsystems, certification plan). The call also addresses the rapid evolution of UUSS requirements due to technological innovation, particularly in UxV employment, and aims to mitigate development risks through innovative, interoperable, and future-oriented designs with modular structures to maximize operational lifecycle, sustainability, and minimize costs. The feasibility and suitability of designs should be proven through early demonstrators or far-developed prototypes with features like configurability, expandability, and cross-platform subsystem development. Validation, demonstration, testing, qualification, and certification of the UUSS, system, and subsystem in relevant or operational seawater environments are encouraged, covering technical aspects (structural, electrical, thermal, radiation, manipulation devices), operational aspects (demonstration, testing, and validation of mission segments, collaborative capabilities, performance checking, information security), and regulatory aspects (certification by public regulations and standards).

Eligible activities include those that increase interoperability and resilience, master critical defence technologies, strengthen security of supply, or enable effective exploitation of results for defence products and technologies, studies (feasibility studies), design of defence products, system prototyping, testing, qualification, certification and development of technologies or assets increasing efficiency across the life cycle of defence products and technologies. Mandatory activities include integrating knowledge, conducting studies, designing, and prototyping. Optional activities include testing, qualification, and certification. Proposals should substantiate synergies and complementarities with other activities in underwater warfare, including integrating European and NATO standards.

Functional requirements include an open, non-proprietary, modular, adaptable, and agile system architecture; innovative, interoperable, and future-oriented UUSS; solutions adopting artificial intellect (AI) and machine learning (ML); filling capability gaps of EU Member States’ and EDF Associated Countries’ armed forces; and enabling enduring operations in several EU maritime environments. The solution should be supported by a concept of operations covering areas such as Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW), Seabed Warfare (SBW), Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), Special Forces (SF) Support, Multi-Domain Operations (MDO), protection of critical infrastructure, and situational awareness. The UUSS should support different ranging, navigation, and communication topologies and a combination of stationary deployed nodes, buoys, surface ships, and underwater vehicles of different sizes.

The call specifies a budget of 25,000,000 EUR for the EDF-2025-DA-UWW-AUWN-STEP topic, with a single-stage submission process. The opening date for submissions is 18 February 2025, and the deadline is 16 October 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The call provides a list of conditions related to admissibility, eligible countries, financial and operational capacity, evaluation and award processes, and legal and financial setup. It also lists call documents and annexes, including application form templates, budget tables, participant information, infrastructure lists, co-financing declarations, indirect cost methodology declarations, capability declarations, procurement intent declarations, ownership control declarations, PRS declarations, model grant agreements, the EDF Annual Work Programme, EDF Regulation, EDF Programme Security Instruction, EU Financial Regulation, and rules for legal entity validation.

There are 34 partner search announcements available for collaboration on this topic. The call provides contact information for help and links to the Funding & Tenders Portal FAQ, EDF Info-days 2025, the IT Helpdesk, and the Online Manual.

In summary, this EDF call seeks to advance the development of next-generation unmanned underwater systems for defense applications, focusing on interoperability, modularity, and the integration of AI and ML technologies. It aims to enhance the EU's capabilities in underwater warfare and ensure the protection of critical maritime infrastructure. The call encourages collaboration among EU Member States and associated countries and emphasizes the importance of adhering to European and NATO standards.

The call for proposals EDF-2025-DA-UWW-AUWN-STEP is a funding opportunity under the European Defence Fund (EDF) aimed at developing advanced underwater networks and unmanned underwater super systems (UUSS). The goal is to enhance the EU's capabilities in underwater warfare by creating innovative, interoperable, and modular systems that can address the limitations of current UUVs and meet the evolving needs of future military operations. The projects funded under this call are expected to contribute to the enhanced security of EU member states, promote synergies within the European defense industry, and improve the EU's strategic competitiveness and autonomy in the underwater domain. The call emphasizes the importance of manned-unmanned teaming, swarms, and the integration of AI and ML technologies to improve data analysis, information handling, and decision-making in underwater operations. The call also encourages the use of common, non-proprietary standards to ensure interoperability and avoid duplications in technology development.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated but can be inferred to include entities from the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB), EU Member States, and EDF Associated Countries. The text mentions armed forces of EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries, suggesting that governmental and possibly research organizations are also eligible. Startups and SMEs are also likely eligible.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically "Development actions implemented via actual cost grants (EDF-2025-DA)" and "EDF Action Grant Budget-Based [EDF-AG]".

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity requires a consortium. The text mentions "proposals" and "applicants" in plural, and the need for synergies within the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) to develop common interoperable standards, suggesting that multiple entities must collaborate.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries.

Target Sector: The target sector is defense, specifically underwater warfare (UWW) and related technologies. This includes unmanned systems, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), manned-unmanned teaming (UTS), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), sensors, communication, navigation, and protection of critical infrastructure. The call topic contributes to the STEP objectives, in the target investment area of deep and digital technologies.

Mentioned Countries: The opportunity explicitly mentions EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries. It also references European and NATO standards.

Project Stage: The project stage targets technology maturity levels (TRL) of up to TRL 7, potentially TRL 8 on sub-system-level. This indicates a focus on development, demonstration, and validation, moving towards commercialization. The project stage includes early demonstrators or far-developed prototypes.

Funding Amount: The funding amount for the specific topic EDF-2025-DA-UWW-AUWN-STEP is EUR 25,000,000. Other related topics have varying budgets, ranging from EUR 29,000,000 to EUR 79,000,000.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a grant.

Application Stages: The application process consists of a single stage.

Success Rates: The indicative number of grants is not specified in the provided text.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-financing is required, as indicated by the "Cofinancing declaration (EDF DA, DA LS AND ASAP)" document.

Summary:

This European Defence Fund (EDF) call, specifically EDF-2025-DA-UWW-AUWN-STEP, focuses on the development of advanced underwater networks and unmanned systems for defense applications. The primary objective is to enhance the EU's capabilities in the underwater warfare domain (UWW) by fostering the development of a new generation of Unmanned Underwater Super Systems (UUSS) and networks. These systems should reach a technology readiness level (TRL) of 7, with potential for TRL 8 at the subsystem level. The call aims to address the limitations of current underwater systems, such as communication challenges, lack of interoperability, and limited autonomy.

The scope of the call includes a wide range of activities, from surveying operational requirements to designing and prototyping innovative UUSS systems. Projects must integrate existing research outcomes, conduct conceptional design studies, and define certification plans. The development should consider various aspects, including system performance, mass, dimensions, sustainability, and innovation management. Optional activities include testing, qualification, and certification of the developed systems in relevant seawater environments.

The call emphasizes the importance of interoperability, modularity, and the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies. The developed systems should fill capability gaps in EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries, enabling enduring operations in diverse maritime environments. The total budget allocated to this specific topic is EUR 25,000,000, and the call follows a single-stage submission process with a deadline of October 16, 2025.

Eligible applicants include entities from EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries, particularly those within the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB). The call encourages collaboration and the development of common interoperable standards to avoid duplication and reduce development costs. The expected outcomes include enhanced security, improved strategic competitiveness, and increased autonomy for the EU in the underwater warfare domain.