The R&T Joint Investment Programme on Force Protection, launched by the European Defence Agency at the end of 2006, is a ground-breaking mechanism for collaborative action to help boost Europe’s efforts in Defence Research and Technology. It focuses on technologies for protecting EU armed forces against threats such as snipers, booby traps and improvised bombs, establishing the three-year Programme worth € 54.93 million and involving 20 European governments JIP was approved by a ministerial meeting of the EDA Steering Board and is managed by the Agency.
“If Europe is to maintain an effective defence technological and industrial base and develop the military capabilities we will need in the future, we simply have to spend more on R&T and do much more together,” said Javier Solana, the Head of the Agency, who chaired the meeting which approved the JIP.
“This decision represents a major step in that direction and demonstrates the creativity and the political will of EU governments. The Agency has now begun to deliver substantial results – and this is prominent among them,” he added.
Unlike previous collaborations on defence R&T, which involved governments negotiating financial and industrial shares for each individual project, the JIP sets up a common budget to fund the whole programme with a management committee representing the contributors to oversee the selection and financing of individual projects. The votes of the contributors are weighted according to the size of their contributions, though decisions will be taken by consensus wherever possible.
The programme will focus on a limited number of specific R&T priorities driven by agreed capability requirements for future operations: collective survivability, individual protection, data analysis, secure wireless communication and mission planning and training.
Below are the key facts about the JIP. For further information, see the following announcements:
- EU Defence Ministers Club Together to Research Better Protection for Armed Forces,
- EDA Signs First Contracts Under R&T Joint Investment Programme on Force Protection
- Read the short summaries of the first projects signed under the JIP-FP NEW!
Contributing Members
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
Budget
Funding commitments received totalling 54.93 million Euros.
Duration
The JIP-FP Programme is expected to run for three years from 1 January 2007.
Scope
The JIP-FP Programme covers 18 specific research and technology goals grouped under five capability areas:
- Collective (units, platforms, infrastructure) survivability through enhancing detect & identify & response performances;
- Individual protection;
- Data Analysis including data fusion from various sources;
- Secured tactical wireless communication systems in urban environment;
- Mission Planning/Training in an asymmetric environment.
Management
A Management Committee of one representative of each contributing Member (cM), chaired by the EDA, is selecting from the scope of the JIP-FP Programme R&T topics for which a call for proposals is then issued by the Agency, decide the share of the budget to be allocated to this call, and authorise the award of contracts based on expert evaluation of the proposals received. Decisions are normally by consensus but, in the event of a vote, the votes are weighted according to the share of the budget of each cM.
*Latest Updates*
The Joint Investment Programme (JIP) Programme Arrangement specifying, inter alia, the provisions for selecting and contracting research activities, managing IPR, and controlling the finances for the programme has been signed by the 20 contributing Members on 14th May 2007.
First Call
The first call for proposals, dedicated mainly to “collective survivability”, was issued on 15th May 2007 directly to the 270 potential contractors that had been designated in advance by the contributing Members. Proposals from around 30 different consortia were received by the specified deadline and the evaluation was completed in September 2007. The successful consortia were selected by the Management Committe on 16th October 2007, and the first contracts were signed on 14th December 2007.
Second Call
The second call for proposals, dedicated mainly to “Secured tactical wireless communications” and “individual protection”, was issued on 16th November 2007 directly to the 306 potential contractors that had been designated in advance by the contributing Members. The deadline for submission of proposals under this second call was the end of February 2008. The successful consortia were selected by the Management Committe on 29th April 2008. Short summaries of signed JIP-FP projects can be found here.
Third Call
The third call for proposals dedicated to “Data Analysis, including data fusion from various sources” was issued on 16th May 2008 directly to the 155 potential contractors that had been designated in advance by the contributing Members. The successful consortia were selected by the Management Committe on 16th December 2008.
Fourth Call
The fourth call for proposals, has been issued on 19th December 2008 directly to more than 210 potential contractors that were designated in advance by the contributing Members. Registration for entities interested in becoming a designated potential contractor closed on 11th December 2008 however a specific procedure exists for latecomers who should send a Registration Form to one of the relevant Points of Contact.
Full information on the fourth call can be found here.