CBRN was one of the first topics to be addressed in the context of the European Framework Cooperation (EFC) set up between the European Commission and the European Defence Agency in order to maximise synergies between civilian, space and defence-related research efforts.
The EDA's contribution to this effort is a Joint Investment Programme (JIP CBRN) with a centrally-managed budget funded by all contributing Members. This EDA Category A programme is overseen by a Management Committee including a representative from each contributing Member and chaired by the Agency. The Management Committee decides on the technological content and selection of the proposals as well as project management and results dissemination.
The JIP CBRN was formally established in Spring 2010 by the EDA Steering Board. A programme arrangement was signed in March 2012, and two calls for projects were launched in 2012 and 2013. 14 projects were selected and have been finalised.
Twelve EU Member States as well as Norway contributed to the JIP CBRN, with an allocated ad hoc budget of €12 million.
The R&T projects as part of the JIP CBRN addressed the following shortfalls:
stand-off detection C threats
point detection B threats
mixed CBRN samples handling
modelling and simulation of CBRN architectures
decontamination management
sensor networking for CBRN
protection equipment.