European Framework Cooperation
The Joint Action establishing the European Defence Agency tasks the Agency to identify appropriate areas of cooperation with the European Commission research activities in order to fulfil future defence and security capability requirements and to strengthen Europe’s industrial and technological potential.
This coordination is essential to address comprehensive capabilities, to harmonize requirements, and to improve compatibility of defence and security related technologies and systems. EDA and the European Commission are already synergising their research in some specific projects, such as Software Defined Radio, the insertion of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles into regulated airspace, on critical technologies for space applications or on Maritime Surveillance.
In order to bring the existing cooperation to a more systematic and intensive level, European Ministers of Defence, meeting in EDA’s Steering Board on 18 May 2009, have tasked the EDA to develop concrete proposals. This led to the launch in 2010 of the “European Framework Cooperation” coordination scheme, in collaboration with the European Commission and the European Space Agency. The aim will be to synchronise and complement research activities in the three frameworks, and to allow for mutual use of results. Due to institutional differences, there will be no joint funding and the management responsibilities within each of the three frameworks will remain unchanged.
Three technological areas are candidate for this scheme:
Beyond the R&T Directorate, the European Framework Collaboration involves deeply EDA Capabilities and Armaments Directorates.
First research activities are foreseen for 2012.
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