The European Defence Fund (EDF) is a component of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

's (EU)

Common Security and Defence Policy The Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) is the European Union's (EU) course of action in the fields of defence and crisis management, and a main component of the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The CSDP involves the deplo ...

(CSDP) which aims to coordinate and increase national investment in defence research and improve interoperability between national armed forces. It was proposed in 2016 by Commission President

Jean-Claude Juncker Jean-Claude Juncker (; born 9 December 1954) is a Luxembourgish politician who served as the 21st Prime Minister of Luxembourg from 1995 to 2013 and 12th President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. He also served as Finance Minister ...

and established in 2017. The fund has two stands; Research (€90 million until the end of 2019 and €500 million per year after 2020) and Development & Acquisition (€500 million in total for 2019-20 then €1 billion per year after 2020). In July 2018, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

announced that the EDF budget for 2021-2027 would be €13 billion. This sum was later revised by the European Commission as part of the new EU budget proposed on May 27th 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to which the EDF will be allocated €8 billion over this budget period.

Aim

The

co-finances joint defence industrial projects and supports collaborative defense research across the EU. Specifically, the Juncker Commission has planned and made an unprecedented effort to protect and defend Europeans. The plan is that from 2021, a fully-fledged European Defence Fund will foster an innovative and competitive defense industrial base and contribute to the EU's strategic autonomy.

Strategic autonomy Strategic autonomy is defined as the ability of a state to pursue its national interests and adopt its preferred foreign policy without depending heavily on other foreign states. In European context, strategic autonomy is the ability of the Europe ...

is the ability of the European Union to defend Europe and act militarily in its neighborhood without so much reliance on the United States. The goal of strategic autonomy is however not to act alone militarily, and the European Union can be characterized as non-interventionist in nature. The European Defence Fund, together with the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence and

Permanent Structured Cooperation The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is the part of the European Union's (EU) security and defence policy (CSDP) in which 25 of the 27 national armed forces pursue structural integration (the exceptions being Denmark and Malta). Based on ...

forms a new comprehensive defence package for the EU.Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) - Factsheet
European External Action Service

Eligible projects

Development of equipment and technology

Through two precursors to the Fund, the Commission took further steps to make defense cooperation a reality. In 2019 the Commission kick-started the first EU-funded joint defense related industrial projects through the European Defense Industrial Development Program. The first program agreed with the Member States provided €500 million in co-financing for the joint development of defense capabilities during 2019–2020. These cover priority areas in all domains such as air, land, sea, cyber and space: * Protection and mobility of forces: to help develop CBRN threat detections capabilities or counter drone systems. * Intelligence, secured communication & Cyber: situational awareness and defence, space situational awareness and early warning capabilities, or maritime surveillance capabilities. * Operations: to upgrade or development of the next generation of ground-based precision strike capabilities, ground combat capabilities, air combat capabilities and future naval systems. * Innovation & SMEs: to support solutions in Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Cyber technologies, as well as to support SMEs. * Eurodrone: for a crucial capability for Europe's strategic autonomy. * ESSOR to support interoperable and secure military communications.

Research

The 2019 Work Programme also dedicated €25 million for research in Electromagnetic

Full-spectrum dominance Full-spectrum dominance also known as full-spectrum superiority, is a military entity's achievement of control over all dimensions of the battlespace, effectively possessing an overwhelming diversity of resources in such areas as terrestrial, a ...

and Future Disruptive Defence Technologies. These two areas have been identified as essential to maintain Europe's long-term lead and independence. The calls on Future Disruptive Defence Technologies will look at how best the EU can support disruptive technologies in defence that may lead to transformational changes in the military. This will help prepare the ground for the European Defence Fund which could allocate up to 8% of its budget for disruptive technologies. In June 2018, the Commission proposed to allocate €13 billion to the fund for the period 2021–2027. The aim is to support collaborative defence projects throughout the entire cycle of

Research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in Europe as research and technological development (RTD), is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products, and improving existi ...

. The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament are to adopt the proposal by 2019.EURACTIV: EU lawmakers rubber-stamp European Defence Fund, give up parliamentary veto
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References

External links

European Defence Fund - factsheet

EDIDP and PADR - factsheet

More information on PADR Work Programme

More information on EDIDP Work Programme

European Commission {{Funding programmes of the European Union Military equipment of the European Union Military economics Innovation economics es:Fondo europeo de defensa

Aim

Eligible projects

Development of equipment and technology

Research

See also

References

External links