The dynamic and effective integration of cyberspace into military operational domains presents an intricate and urgent matter for the EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries defence community, which requires new strategies, concepts, architectures, processes and capabilities to enable a complete integration at conducting military operations.

In EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries military doctrines, cyberspace is conceptualised as a dynamically distributed and interconnected domain, where operations unfold in an intangible and rapidly evolving landscape. This domain fosters distributed decision-making, where actions taken within interconnected networks have cross-domain impacts, which can be seen as a challenge for decision-makers, but also as an opportunity to explore distributed decision-centric warfare possibilities.

The specific objective of this call topic is to develop state-of-the-art, effective, and reliable solutions that operate and, where possible, automate larger parts of EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries military cyberspace operations in a distributed manner, including the synchronisation of kinetic and cyber exercises across domains that present multiple dilemmas to adversaries.

Proposals should demonstrate the capacity to develop such a capability aligned with the needs for military cyberspace operations.

This call topic contributes to the STEP objectives, as defined in STEP Regulation, in the target investment area of deep and digital technologies.

The proposals must cover the following areas:

• Cyber Force Multiplication: leveraging on automation and distribution to significantly enhance the overall effectiveness and impact of cyber operations. This involves using cyber tools, Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTPs), and resources to augment traditional military capabilities, such as Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR), C2, defensive operations, etc.
• Cyber Command Augmentation: transference and coordination of decision-making power between decentralised units, nodes, actuators and/or cyber operators. This decentralisation of command allows for quicker response times, more agile decision-making, and the ability to adapt to rapidly evolving threats in cyberspace. It enables units and operators to autonomously assess the situation, identify targets, and take appropriate courses of action.
• Self-Adaptive protection: autonomous and dynamic protection of own assets and mission progress against cyber threats and attacks. A self-adaptive protection system can detect anomalies, identify malicious activities, and automatically adjust defence mechanisms to mitigate or neutralise cyber incidents and threats as the operational conditions evolve. In the context of mission assurance, decisions on changes for reactively or proactively respond shouldbe facilitated. This enables self-protection and self-healing at both technical but also mission level.