The war in Ukraine demonstrates the need for a massive use of ammunition in the battlefield to defeat a conventional adversary in a high intensity warfare scenario. Besides regular artillery ammunition, loitering munitions (including, e.g., First Person View (FPV) drones) equipped with warheads and other type of Unmanned Combat Aerial Systems (UCAS) have proliferated on the battlefield. The use of such new types of effectors, particularly if deployed in massive scale, have become a force multiplier with substantial impact in the ground operations.

The current degraded international security situation in Europe calls for the development of affordable effectors, in terms of precision and mass, with particular interest on Loitering Munitions and small UCAS and the necessary industrial adaptation for their mass production. Most of the Loitering Munitions and small UCAS research and development activities have been taking place outside EU and only recently the interest in these capabilities has increased. EU Member States’ and EDF Associated Countries’ armed forces need modern capabilities based on both Loitering Munitions and small UCAS, which can be produced and deployed at scale to gain battlefield advantage. Thus, the EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries must quickly set conditions to develop and deploy affordable technological solutions for Loitering Munitions and small UCAS, alongside with the ramp-up of production of conventional munitions, such as 155mm artillery rounds. Furthermore, such solutions should benefit from Ukrainian firsthand experience from the battlefield and integrate innovative approaches.

This call topic aims to study, design, develop, prototype and test new generation of affordable mass munitions for ground combat indirect fire. Solutions should predominantly focus on affordable loitering munitions and small UCAS operating for tactical and/or operational level effects. It should be possible to use these systems in massive quantities in the battlefield, preferably with swarm capability. Such solutions should be possible to manufacture at scale and at the speed of relevance to ensure battlefield superiority against a conventional adversary.

To better integrate experience and innovations resulting from the Ukrainian battlefield, the consortium is requested to reach out to third parties across the EU, EDF associated countries and Ukraine, in particular SMEs and start-ups. Funding for the financial support to third parties (FSTP) is an integral part of the awarded grant. The consortium is required to organise at least one call to third parties to select and award start-ups and SMEs to bring open innovation to the project.
This aims to strengthen possibilities to involve smaller players that would otherwise not have the means to access EDF actions, thereby further enhancing innovation capacity and competitiveness of the European Defence Industrial and Technological Base (EDTIB).

The scope concerns Loitering Munitions and small UCAS for tactical and/or operational level effects. Loitering Munition is to be understood as a munition able to remain over a designated area seeking for targets and be assigned/reassigned for selective engagement of one of them. Small UCAS are to be understood as recoverable unmanned aircraft able to carry and drop lethal payloads for tactical and/or operational level effects and return to the launch or other dedicated position after their mission.

It is expected that each submitted proposal must tackle at least one of the following
solutions:

• 5-10 km short range loitering munition or small UCAS against infantry and other soft and armoured targets.
• 10-50 km mid-range loitering munition or small UCAS against soft and armoured targets.
• 50-200 km long range loitering munition or small UCAS against soft and armoured targets.

Proposals must address:

• Affordable technologies for autonomous flight control, autonomous target acquisition and autonomous engagement capability (including lethal payloads that are easily integrable into the platform, safely handled, and designed for maximum performance), with meaningful human control.
• Ability to operate in heavily contested electronic warfare environment.

In addition, proposals should address:

• The possibility to be assisted by machine learning/Artificial Intelligence (AI).
• Technologies for collaborating/swarm capabilities with other Loitering Munitions and small UCAS.
• Designs that are easily upgradeable (e.g., by use of modularity and standards) to utilise technological development and adjust to changes in the operating environment.
• Study and design of payloads with smart target seeking and fuze features using new or already existing technologies.

Proposals may address: Integration into current battle management systems using relevant standards. Furthermore, the proposals must describe how FSTP is planned to be used in the project and how entities with relevant expertise are expected to contribute to their implementation.

Proposals must not address: Fully autonomous weapon systems.