More than €1 billion will be allocated in 2025 from the European Defence Fund (EDF) to the European defence ecosystem for collaborative research and development in the defence sector, according to the European Commission’s announcement on the annual work programme, which has a budget of €1.065 billion.

This year’s fifth consecutive cycle follows on from the 2024 programme and, according to the call, the 2025 EDF work programme covers a total of 33 topics, structured into seven thematic calls for proposals, two non-thematic calls for proposals, and two actions in support of the Defence Medical Countermeasures Alliance.

It should be noted that the EDF programmes have a total budget of almost €8 billion, for the period 2021-2027, of which €2.7 billion is available for collaborative defence research and €5.3 billion for collaborative capability-building projects that complement national contributions. 

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This year’s programme also supports the development of critical defence technologies and capabilities across all military domains, including land, air, maritime, space, and cyber, in line with the EU Capability Development Plan agreed by the Member States. 

The work programme also includes a number of specific measures to support SMEs and mid-caps under the EU Defence Innovation Scheme (EUDIS).

With the approval of the 2025 work programme, the Commission has committed a total of €5.4 billion since its entry into force in May 2021, and the €8 billion of the budget, being one of the leading investors in Defence Research and Security.

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