Next generation armoured infantry fighting vehicle

1. Admissibility conditions: described in section 5 of the call document

Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System

2. Eligible countries: described in section 6 of the call document

3. Other eligibility conditions: described in section 6 of the call document

4. Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in section 7 of the call document

5. Evaluation and award:

Award criteria, scoring and thresholds: described in section 9 of the call document

Submission and evaluation processes: described section 8 of the call document and the Online Manual

Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in section 4 of the call document

6. Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in section 10 of the call document

Call documents:

Call document

Templates for proposals should be downloaded from the Submission System (available at the opening of the call), the links below are examples only:

- EDF Standard application form

- Detailed budget table (EDF DA)

- Participant information (including previous projects, if any)

- List of infrastructure, facilities, assets and resources

- Cofinancing declarations (if the requested EU grant does not cover the total eligible costs of the project)

- Harmonised capability declarations (if the project covers design activities)

- Declarations on procurement intent and common specifications (if the project covers system prototyping, testing, qualification or certification activities)

- Actual indirect cost methodology declarations (if actual indirect costs used)

- Ownership control declarations (including for associated partners and subcontractors involved in the action)

- PRS declaration (if the project requires access to Galileo PRS information)

EDF General MGA v1.0

Additional documents:

EDF Annual Work Programme

EDF Regulation 2021/697

EU Financial Regulation 2018/1046

Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment

EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement

Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual

Funding & Tenders Portal Terms and Conditions

Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement

The Global Strategy for the European Union’s (EU) Foreign and Security Policy defines an integrated approach to conflicts “at all stages of the conflict cycle, acting promptly on prevention, responding responsibly and decisively to crises, investing in stabilisation and avoiding premature disengagement when a new crisis erupts”.

In order to support and, if necessary, enforce, the above approach, a credible deterrent is required to be rebuilt in terms of land combat capability with a priority focused on armoured vehicles in general and, in particular, on Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicles.

Specific objective

Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicles (AIFV) remain a pivotal element of land military manoeuvre, both in a conventional warfare context as well as in the asymmetric one, thanks to the combination of protection, mobility, and firepower. Nonetheless, AIFVs currently numbered in the fleet inventories of the EU Member States are to some extent either ageing or obsolete and, therefore, the same States face the compelling need to modernise their in-service platforms and replace those of them approaching the end of their operational life. There is also a need to accelerate the acquisition and increase the size of the AIFV fleets updating some of the new requirements stemming from the war in Ukraine and the new threat scenarios. Against this background, the upgrade of the current and development of the next generation armoured infantry fighting vehicle capable of outstanding operational effectiveness and mission success in all possible future scenarios are highly necessary.

Modularity, reduced crew workload, the integration of automatic systems, Manned-Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T), and increased survivability must guide design considerations.

Proposals must address studies and design for the upgrade of current armoured infantry fighting vehicles and the development of next generation armoured infantry fighting vehicle technologies, with desirable outputs for legacy platforms, including enabling and green technologies (eco-design or sustainable technologies), leading to a system level capable of outstanding operational effectiveness and mission success in all possible future scenarios. Furthermore, they must take into account aspects such as mobility, deployability (tactical and strategic ones), autonomy, firepower, maintainability, survivability and cyber security.

Thematic scope of the activities to be supported is preliminary studies, system analysis and early development phases. It includes considerations of the system in operational perspective and identification of specific subsystems that define the future operational environment and purpose of system within the future battlefield.

Moreover, proposals should include development efforts of a new common European “Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle” (AIFV), and when feasible have a high commonality with solutions in other future European combat vehicles.

Types of activities

The following table lists the types of activities which are eligible for this topic, and whether they are mandatory or optional (see Article 10(3) EDF Regulation):

Accordingly, the proposals must cover at least the following tasks as part of mandatory activities:

• Studies
  • Concept of Operation (CONOPS) definition, feasibility study and architecture definition, including the definition of operational requirements and critical capabilities;
  • Cost-benefit analysis against technology solutions defined during the project;
  • System Specification (SSS and SSDD) providing a detailed system and sub-systems description, including the development of harmonised requirements and vehicle system architecture;
  • System Requirement Review (SRR).
• Design
  • Concept and Preliminary Design Review (PDR).

The proposals should substantiate synergies and complementarities with foreseen, ongoing or completed activities, notably those described in the call topics related to ground combat capabilities and possibly related to manned and unmanned platforms under EDF and EDIDP.

Moreover:

• projects addressing activities referred to in point (d) above must be based on harmonised defence capability requirements jointly agreed by at least two Member States or EDF associated countries (or, if studies within the meaning of point (c) are still needed to define the requirements, at least on the joint intent to agree on them)
• projects addressing activities referred to in points (e) to (h) above, must be:
  • supported by at least two Member States or EDF associated countries that intend to procure the final product or use the technology in a coordinated manner, including through joint procurement

and

• • based on common technical specifications jointly agreed by the Member States or EDF associated countries that are to co-finance the action or that intend to jointly procure the final product or to jointly use the technology (or, if design within the meaning of point (d) is still needed to define the specifications, at least on the joint intent to agree on them).

For more information, please check section 6.

Functional requirements

The proposed activities should focus at least on a subset of functions for AIFV (e.g., among mobility, energy, observation, protection, human-machine interaction and/or firepower) and meet the following functional requirements:

• Be capable of performing its missions by day, night and in adverse weather conditions, in worldwide crisis/war scenarios, including asymmetric theatres, with the minimum possible degradation of performance due to extreme environmental conditions and type of terrains, as defined in the relevant standards, and in compliance with EU/NATO standards;
• Be capable of conducting operations in Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) environment (to be also considered in the design phase);
• Be capable of handling the specific requirements that comes from conditions in special areas context:
  • Comprising soft soil (marshland) and deep snow mobility capability;
  • Impact from heavy snow, wind and low temperatures, implying e.g., ice build-up, blocking of sensors;
  • Be able to act with own resources in low logistic support situations;
  • Be capable of handling short standoff distances (