Spin-in EDF research actions implemented via lump sum grants

Home Funding Calls for proposals Layered critical seabed infrastructure protection Layered critical seabed infrastructure protection EDF-2026-RA-SI-UWW-CSBI-STEP Topic Call for proposal Internal navigation General information Topic description Topic updates Conditions and documents Budget overview Partner search announcements Start submission Topic Q&As Get support General information Programme European Defence Fund (EDF) Call Spin-in EDF research actions implemented via lump sum grants (EDF-2026-LS-RA-SI) Type of action EDF-LS EDF Lump Sum Grants Type of MGA EDF Lump Sum Grant [EDF-AG-LS] Open For Submission Deadline model single-stage Opening date 11 February 2026 Deadline date 29 September 2026 17:00:00 Brussels time Topic description Scope: This topic aims to improve the protection of seabed infrastructure through a comprehensive system, including unmanned assets, advanced sensors, underwater observation, detection, acquisition and communication systems, and integrated command and control. This initiative focuses on the development and validation of such a system for future operations, integrated with maritime command centres for coordinated responses. The approach combines operational levels and innovative technologies to effectively mitigate risk and ensure continuity of operations. 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: Studies and design, not excluding upstream activities eligible for research actions. Indicative budget: EUR 30 000 000 for this topic under the EDF-2026-RA-SI call. Range of financial contribution of the EU per proposal: The requested funding cannot exceed EUR 15 000 000. 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. Show more Topic updates 10 August 2026 On 13 July 2026, the European Union and Ukraine signed the Association Agreement on the participation of Ukraine in the European Defence Fund (EDF). This Association Agreement will formally enter into force once the Parties have notified each other of the completion of their respective internal procedures necessary for that purpose. When the Association Agreement will enter into force, legal entities established in Ukraine will become eligible as beneficiaries and subcontractors involved in the actions supported by the EDF under the conditions laid down in Regulation (EU) 2021/697. In the meantime, Ukrainian legal entities may already apply and be considered as consortium members for the EDF Calls for proposals for 2026. For more information see QnA. 12 February 2026 The submission session is now available for: EDF-2026-RA-SI-UWW-CSBI-STEP, EDF-2026-LS-RA-SI-ENERENV-NTFE Show more 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: Call document 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) Participant information (EDF) List of infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources (EDF) Actual indirect cost methodology declaration (EDF) Ownership control declaration Ownership control guarantee PRS declaration (EDF) Model Grant Agreements (MGA) EDF, ASAP and EDIRPA Lump Sum MGA Additional documents: EDF Annual Work Programme EDF Regulation 2021/697 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 Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement Show more Budget overview Topic Budget year : 2026 Stages Opening date Deadline Contributions Indicative number of grants EDF-2026-LS-RA-SI-ENERENV-NTFE - EDF-LS EDF Lump Sum Grants EDF-2026-RA-SI-UWW-CSBI-STEP - EDF-LS EDF Lump Sum Grants 50 000 000,00 € Single-stage 11 February 2026 29 September 2026 Items per page: 10 50 100 Showing 1–1 of 1 Partner search announcements 65 Searches of partners to collaborate on this topic View / Edit LEARs, Account Administrators or self-registrants can publish partner requests for open and forthcoming topics after logging into this Portal, as well as any user having an active public Person profile. Start submission Need help? To access the Electronic Submission Service, please click on the submission-button next to the type of action and the type of model grant agreement that corresponds to your proposal. You will then be asked to confirm your choice, as it cannot be changed in the submission system. Upon confirmation, you will be linked to the correct entry point. To access existing draft proposals for this topic, please login to the Funding & Tenders Portal and select the My Proposals page of the My Area section. Please select the type of your submission: EDF Lump Sum Grants [EDF-LS], EDF Lump Sum Grant [EDF-AG-LS] Start submission Topic Q&As60 item(s) found General FAQ Under EDF, is it possible to participate in the same call more than one time in different roles? Yes, it is possible to participate in the same call in more than one proposals, as long as the proposals are different. Under EDF, can the same Ownership control declaration be reused for multiple proposals—provided that the document remains valid and has been signed recently? The new Ownership Control Declaration (OCD) template requires information on the proposal. Moreover, as a novelty, there is a separate template to be filled in for the part on the gu... Under EDF detailed budget table annex, the "Add line" buttons are missing in some of the costs categories after a certain number of WP have been added, preventing us from filling in the detailed sheet per BE/AE. Why is this? This happens when applicants using Office 365 do not activate the "Compatibility option" in Excel parameters, leading to floating buttons and errors in the generation of buttons. Thi... I am a mac user. When filling in the EDF detailed budget table, I get an error during validation and export before the files are exported. What should I do? Once the error happens, click ok to close the error message and then save manually the file using the following name convention [TOPIC_ID]_[ACRONYM_OF_PROPOSAL]_dbt: 1) first as an x... Under EDF, are purchase costs/cost of equipment acquired from outside EU/Norway eligible? Yes, as long as the equipment to be used in the action by the beneficiary is located on the territory of a Member State or of an associated country for the entire duration of the act... Under EDF, does the SME self-assessment have to be completed prior to submission and is it obligatory to do so before the deadline for all beneficiaries, or can it be finalised during the preparation of the grant agreement? The SME self-assessment on the Participant Registry (Funding & Tenders Portal account > My Organisations > Actions > Modify Organisation > SME tab > Start SME self-ass... Under EDF, what are capability requirements and technical specifications? Capability Requirements: These describe what the end-user wants a capability to achieve, without considering the technical details. In other words, it outlines the desired outcome fr... Under EDF, if an entity is based in EU and has a subsidiary which it controls 100% in a third country, is work done in the third country location an eligible cost and is there a difference if the work is done by EU or third country nationals? The work done in the third country subsidiary is not eligible for EDF funding, regardless of the nationality of the workers. The framework conditions for the eligibility of legal ent... Under EDF, what is defined as equipment and what depreciation rate should be applied? Purchases of equipment, infrastructure or other assets used for the action must all be declared as depreciation costs, calculated on the basis of the costs actually incurred and writ... Under EDF, how, by whom and when are dissemination levels determined? The successful proposals invited to the Grant Agreement Preparation after evaluation will undergo a security scrutiny to determine the classification level of the foreground informat... Under EDF, when starting the online submission process, should I add subcontractors in step ‘Participants’? In the submission process, when you reach the step ‘Participants’, you are invited to indicate only the beneficiaries (referred to as ‘Partners’) and, if any, affiliated entities and... Under the EDF calls, if I declare that there is ‘no control’ or ‘no change’ in the Ownership and control declaration, shall I still fill in the tables in this declaration? Yes, even if you declare “no control” or “no change”, the tables in the declaration have to be filled in. Under EDF, we would like to declare Actual Indirect Costs in our proposal. The declaration requires at least 2 examples of similar projects where we used the method described in the document. Since it is our first time, we do not have any. What do we do? In order to declare actual indirect costs instead of the ordinary 25% flat rate, you must comply with the two conditions established by art. 15.2 of the EDF Regulation: you need to s... Under EDF, are there specific site security requirements that a company must meet to participate in projects that are not classified, in particular the minimum security levels concerning “office environments”? For EDF calls that do not foresee the submission of proposals at an established level of security classification, there are no specific security requirements that the applicants must... What kind of activities qualify for funding under EDF? Proposals for European Defence Fund have to cover a new defence product or technology or upgrade. You can learn more about the types of calls EDF funds at https://defence-industry-sp... Under EDF, if a proposal is a follow-on of a previously funded EDF project, what costs are eligible if for example a prototype has already been fully funded under the predecessor project? Like any other action supported by EDF, eligible costs for follow-up projects are set out in Article 13 of EDF Regulation. They vary according to the type of action supported under t... Under EDF, how is fair competition ensured in cases of proposals that are a follow-on of an already funded EDF project? What happens if another consortium applies to a topic that already has a predecessor project funded by EDF? Accordingto Article 11 of EDF Regulation, Union funding shall be granted following competitive calls for proposals. Participation in these calls is open to any consortium complying w... Under EDF, are [... συνέχεια στην επίσημη πρόσκληση]