Call for proposals

Preparatory Action for Defence Research 2017

“Force protection and advanced soldier systems beyond current programmes” - PADR-FPSS-01-2017

 

Objectives and description

The European Defence Agency has published a call for proposals under the Preparatory Action for Defence Research 2017, under the topic “Force protection and advanced soldier systems beyond current programmes” - PADR-FPSS-01-2017.

 

Soldier equipment will increasingly have to meet and adapt to the requirements stemming from their future application in multinational, less and less predictable and very dynamic environments This introduces important challenges to soldier systems such as:

·         Interoperability of defence systems will be a key capability in the future. This introduces important challenges to soldier systems, such as multi-national interoperability, effectiveness, adaptability to mission and mission intensity, maintaining equipment at state of the art, life cycle cost efficiency, logistic and human resource footprint of force protection.

·         The safety of military personnel is a critical element of effective defence and security. The defensive measures as individual ballistic protection remain vital. Despite the efforts in the research area (most of them outside the EU), the shortcomings of commercially available products exist. The main disadvantage of the commercially available ballistic systems is their weight ,inflexibility and design shortcomings to differences in anatomy and protection approaches based only against kinetic energy.

·         A strong civilian driving force encourages research and development in order to adapt visible appearance. Materials and components exist or are being developed to change the visual appearance of a surface for e.g. display applications. These are, in general, not suited for defence applications.

 

The topic calls for proposals to explore and demonstrate the potential of how technology can further advance and enhance soldier systems beyond current programmes, hence assessing what is the state-of-the-art in one or more of the aforementioned areas. Proposed activities could cover one of the following sub-topics:

1.     Generic open soldier systems architecture

The proposals should propose a definition of architecture ready for standardisation and comprehensively covering soldier systems within their context of operation (group, squad, multi-national, vehicles, etc.). The architecture shall be based on a suitable architectural framework. At the end of the project a technical validation should be performed to ensure that a proposed architecture in terms of interfaces, protocols or standards is technically feasible and to enable delivery of an open, modular and easily reconfigurable soldier system. The architecture domain to be considered shall include:

electronics;

voice and data communication;

software;

human interface devices;

sensors;

effectors.

2.     Tailor-made blast, ballistic and CBRN protection of military personnel

The proposals should aim at research and technology development in lightweight ballistic and blasting protection allowing reduction at least 20% of weight versus existing commercial solutions for military personnel. The technology should allow achieving optimized protection with effective dissipation of energy and body protected zones. It should enable flexibility and modularity. Proposals should also explore the use of novel materials to integrate CBRN detection and/or protection into military body armour. Relevant advancements in manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing, might also be investigated.

3.     Adaptive camouflage

Advanced active and passive camouflage methods which are able to rapidly reconfigure or change to various patterns according to the surrounding environment. The camouflage should be active against a variety of present and future threats from advanced sensor systems and observation means, adapted to the needs and the variety of missions of the military users.

Eligible participants

1.     Legal entities established in the following countries and territories for the whole duration of the grant agreement will be eligible to receive funding through PADR grants:

·         The Member States (MS) of the European Union (EU), including their overseas departments;

·         The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) linked to the Member States

·         Norway

2.       The JRC may participate in actions with the same rights and obligations as a legal entity established in a Member State;

 

3.       International European interest organisations  will be eligible to receive funding through PADR grants.

 

Funding conditions and duration

The total budget earmarked for this call for proposals is 6,780,000 EUR.

 

The European Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU in the range of EUR 1 to 1.5 million for subtopic (a) and EUR 2 to 3 million for subtopics (b) and (c) would allow this specific challenge to be addressed appropriately.

 

The EU grant covers 100% of total eligible costs.

 

Deadline of proposals' submission

The deadline for the submission of proposals is 21 September 2017 – 17.00 (Brussels time).

 

Applicants are requested to submit their proposals online in the participant’s portal.

 

Further information

Please find attached the documents of the call.

 

For further assistance related to the call, topics and the content of proposals, please contact preparatoryaction@eda.europa.eu

More information: https://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/opportunities/pppa/topics/padr-fpss-01-2017.html

 

Kind regards,

Flora

 

Flora Stavropoulou
Intern

European Office of Cyprus

Rue du Luxembourg 3, 2nd floor

B-1000, Brussels

Tel/Fax: +32 (0) 2 280 22 85

E-mail: eoc.brussels2@ucy.ac.cy

 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE GREEK TRANSLATION IS PROVIDED AT REQUEST OF ANY INTERESTED MEMBER (based on the decision of 22.12.2016 of the EOC Administrative Council).