Western defense-tech opportunities

The EU's flagship deep-tech instrument. Non-dilutive grant plus optional equity for breakthrough, high-risk companies. Dual-use tech is in scope; the strongest direct route for a Ukrainian entity.

Eligibility

Apply directly

Funding

Up to €2.5M grant + up to €10–15M equity

Timing

Rolling cut-offs (several/year)

The civil / dual-use security pillar of Horizon Europe — directly open to Ukrainian entities and a strong home for demining, border and CI-protection tech.

Eligibility

Apply directly

Funding

€ multi-million (consortium)

Timing

Annual calls

The EU's high-risk, early-research grant. Feeds the EIC Accelerator later; the direct route for a Ukrainian research team to enter the EU deep-tech pipeline.

Eligibility

Apply directly

Funding

~€3–4M grant (collaborative)

Timing

Annual calls (Open + Challenges)

The maturation grant between Pathfinder and Accelerator — a direct Ukrainian route to de-risk a dual-use technology toward market.

Eligibility

Apply directly

Funding

Up to ~€2.5M grant

Timing

Annual cut-offs

AFRL's standing open BAA funds science, applied research and prototyping across air, space, sensors, autonomy, directed energy, materials and munitions. Idea-first: engage a program manager, submit a white paper, then a full proposal.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

R&D awards (grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, OTs); size varies by topic, from small studies to large multi-year efforts.

Timing

Open year-round; white papers accepted continuously

The EU's main defence R&D and capability-development fund. Large, consortium-based — best entered with an EU prime or via an EU footprint.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

€ multi-million per project (consortium)

Timing

Annual calls — typically opened mid-year

The successor framework tying EU defence-industrial funding together — with a dedicated Ukraine track worth tracking closely.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

€ industrial-base grants

Timing

Programme windows

A long-running Office of Naval Research Broad Agency Announcement, continuously updated, funding EW, surveillance and enabling ISR technologies across roughly seven technical areas.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

Non-dilutive grants/contracts under the BAA; ONR plans roughly $10–15M per year across the technical areas, with individual white-paper-driven awards sized to scope.

Timing

A recurring, continuously updated special-programs announcement under ONR's Long Range BAA. The current EW/Surveillance call (N0001424SBC10) opened Aug 2024 with white papers due 26 Sep 2024; white papers are accepted on a rolling basis and reissued, and the umbrella FY25 Long Range BAA runs through 30 Sep 2026.

EU equity facility that channels public money into venture and private-equity funds investing in European defence and dual-use companies. Access is indirect: you raise from one of the backed funds.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

€175M+ facility (DEF 2.0), mobilising up to ~€500M; downstream VC tickets vary by fund.

Timing

Rolling — funds are selected on an ongoing basis; DEF 2.0 runs across the current EU budget cycle.

The IC's research arm funds high-risk, high-payoff work in AI, sensing, cyber, quantum and analytics. Its Open BAA invites unsolicited ideas outside named programs.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

Multi-year research contracts/agreements per program; per-performer awards typically run into the millions.

Timing

Rolling; Open BAA and program BAAs posted throughout the year

Deployment-stage EU money for cyber and AI capacity — dual-use friendly, best entered with an EU partner.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

€ co-funded projects

Timing

Periodic calls

NRL, the Navy's corporate lab, funds R&D in sensing, EW, space systems, materials, autonomy and maritime tech through wide-ranging Broad Agency Announcements.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

R&D grants, cooperative agreements and contracts across a wide, NRL-wide BAA; award sizes vary by topic.

Timing

Open continuously; BAAs posted on an ongoing basis

A neighbouring EU R&D funder with active defence programmes and strong Ukraine ties — accessible via a Polish partner.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

€/zł R&D grants

Timing

Periodic calls

A research route into the Nordic defence base — strong in maritime autonomy and sensing, via a local partner.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

Collaborative R&D

Timing

Project-based

Belgium's national defence research programme funding Defence-academia-industry consortia; grown from €1M to €26M per call.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

€26M programme (2026 call); grants for defence R&T projects.

Timing

Annual call (DEFRA 2026 open); exact window set per edition.

Greece's national defence-innovation centre (est. 2024) funding dual-use R&D, loitering munitions, unmanned maritime systems and more via tenders and challenges.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

State defence-innovation body; runs the €115M 'AGILE' rapid-innovation programme plus R&D tenders and challenges.

Timing

Rolling — continuous calls, RFPs and Innovation Challenges.

Finnish national co-funding stacked on top of EDF grants for Finnish participants, raising public support toward 90% of project costs.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

Research 100% of costs; development 20–100%; lifts total public support up to ~90%.

Timing

Tied to EDF calls (EDF 2026 closes 29 Sep 2026); co-funding within 90 days of the EU grant agreement.

Czech national defence R&D programme covering EDF co-funding and domestic projects in EW, unmanned systems, ammunition and emerging tech.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

CZK 6.12B (2024–2031); ~60% average support rate.

Timing

Periodic national calls (2024, 2026, 2028); EDF sub-programme tied to EDF calls.

ARL's standing BAA funds foundational Army research - materials, autonomy, sensing, energetics, network and ground-vehicle science - via a whitepaper-first, three-step process.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

Grants, cooperative agreements, contracts and OTs; instruments include single-investigator, STIR and early-career awards (typically hundreds of thousands to a few million).

Timing

Open continuously; white papers accepted year-round

The alliance's research network — access to allied technical collaboration and standards, via a member/partner team.

Eligibility

Via partner / consortium

Funding

Collaborative research (in-kind)

Timing

Programme-based