Over €700 million awarded from European Defence Fund to projects involving Estonia

A total of 26 international projects with Estonian involvement have been awarded funding in the 2025 Calls for Proposals of the European Defence Fund (EDF). The European Union will be allocating more than 700 million euros to these initiatives, representing more than half of the total amount being distributed as part of the competition. The total value of the work packages of Estonian companies exceeds 28 million euros.

The Ministry of Defence is among those who have contributed to the successful initiatives: a dozen projects with Estonian involvement are being co-financed by the ministry to the value of more than 1.5 million euros.

Undersecretary for Defence Industry and Innovation Siim Sukles says these newly revealed results show that the Estonian defence industry has a clear and tangible role to play within the European defence industry.

"Our companies' expertise and capabilities are being recognised more and more in international competition," he remarked. "We see that in the results of last year's Calls for Proposals, where projects involving Estonian companies managed to attract almost two thirds of the total grant fund in international competition. Compared to the year before, initiatives with Estonian involvement have attracted almost twice as much European funding: more than 700 million euros. We can also see in these results that the reach of our companies has broadened considerably. Almost every other project that was successful in the 2025 round involves an Estonian company." Sukles stressed that years of experience and excellence in innovative solutions are behind the success of Estonian companies and research institutions.

A total of 57 international initiatives were selected for funding under the 2025 Calls for Proposals, to a total value of more than 1 billion euros. Of those, 26 projects involve Estonian companies and institutions: Frankenburg Technologies, Krattworks, DSI, Talgen Cybersecurity, Milrem, Wayren, Falconers, Cafa Tech, Cybernetica, SpaceIT, Skycorp Technologies, Power-UP Fuel Cells, TrackDeep, DefsecIntel, Skudotech and the Estonian Defence Industry Association. These projects will create new solutions in the sensor, cyber, space, energy, air defence, materials science and underwater categories.

Among others, the latest Calls for Proposals of the EDF awarded grants to two Estonian-led projects. The first of these is EURODAMM, which is being overseen by Frankenburg Technologies. It aims to devise a solution that combines reusable unmanned aerial platforms with munitions to provide scalable and affordable precision solutions in environments that do not enable electronic warfare or GNSS. The second is STRATUS (Swarm Threat Resilience and Adaptive Tactical UxV Security), whose focus is on providing a next-generation virtual cyber defence system in a security context that allows unmanned vehicle fleets to survive attacks and carry out their mission.

Successful projects supported by Ministry of Defence letter of intent

• EURODAMM (European Drone-Based Affordable Mass Munitions) - Estonia's flagship project, led by Frankenburg Technologies and involving fellow Estonian companies Talgen and CybExer
• SPIRIT (Small Pitch Improved Resolution for Infrared Technology) - involving the Estonian company Falconers
• SHIMBAD (Shipborne Multiband AESA Demonstrator) - involving Cafa Tech from Estonia
• ECC2 (European Cyber Command and Control System) - also involving Cafa Tech, plus fellow Estonian company Cybernetica
• ASIMOV (Autonomous System for Inspection, Maintenance, Defence Operations and Manoeuvers) - involving the Estonian company SpaceIT
• SPIDER2 (Space-based Persistent ISR for Defence and Europe Reinforcement) - also involving Falconers
• D-STORM (Drone-Based Scalable Tactical Operations Responsive Munitions) - also involving Falconers
• LATACC2 (Land Tactical Collaborative Combat Phase 2) - involving the Estonian company Milrem
• SHIELD (Subsea Heterogeneous Integrated Ecosystem Link Development) - involving Estonia's Skycorp Technologies
• NEVMA (Neuromorphic Event-Driven Vision for Multiple Defence Applications) - involving DefsecIntel Solutions from Estonia
• SEQUILITE (Lightweight Secure Communication Protocol with HW-Backed Post-Quantum Cryptography) - also involving DefsecIntel Solutions, plus fellow Estonian company Skudo
• SOUND2 (Sonobuoy Optimization for Unmanned Deployment and Underwater Detection) - also involving DefsecIntel Solutions

The European Union is investing approximately 8 billion euros in defence R&D via the EDF in the period from 2021-2027. The programme is designed to reduce fragmentation in the development of defence industries in the EU and to contribute to increasing European cooperation and competitiveness in defence R&D.

For more details, see Result of the EDF 2025 Calls for Proposals

Additional information: [email protected]