Innovative propulsion systems for defence applications

The outcome should contribute to:

• the spin-in of civil European R&D into the defence sector;
• enabling Member States and EDF associated countries (Norway) armed forces to meet EU Green Deal targets, and to be climate neutral by 2050, with only minimal loss of military and joint operational capabilities;
• facilitating the introduction of new propulsion and energy integrated systems technologies by reducing their evaluation time and cost, thus providing a cutting-edge tactical advantage in operations, while contributing to energy transformation in Europe;
• developing the autonomy of the industrial sector in the EU and enhance cross-border cooperation (from large industrial groups to SMEs) in a high-tech niche sector;
• the EU technological sovereignty and strategic autonomy ahead of future non-associated third-country competitors;
• enhancing complementarity and stimulate cross-fertilisation between civil and defence technologies and solutions in this area.

General objective

The EU has set the goal of becoming a climate-resilient society by 2050, fully adapted to the unavoidable impacts of climate change. With this target, the EU tracks its progress on cutting emissions through regular monitoring and reporting, and sets targets to progressively reduce its greenhouse gas emissions targeting net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

These targets could affect also military platforms, which progressively must reduce their GHG (Green House Gases) emissions similarly as other economic sectors. In the field of mobility and transportation, the Green Deal objectives aim especially at boosting energy efficiency and ecodesign of products, reducing dependence on fossil fuels, promoting renewable and low-carbon gases and also supporting sustainable and sovereign key component development.

Innovations on propulsion systems are of higher interest in the heart of the contribution of the defence sector to address the European “Fit for 55” target. It is also an opportunity for defence to foster sovereignty and strategic autonomy while enhancing defence core capabilities (range, autonomy, silent operation and watch, lower signature…).

Developing innovative propulsion systems adapted for military operations without compromising current defence capabilities is challenging, and the specific military environment can limit the transfer of civil technologies regarding safety, maintenance, cost and supply issues.

In this sense, one of the main issues that Member States and EDF associated countries (Norway) armed forces, especially in the land and naval domain, are facing is to meet EU Green Deal (EUGD) targets with the existing fleets. Long military platforms lifespan forces to analyse existing and emerging sustainable fuels regarding their projected availability and useability as sustainable fuel solutions for a transitional period without significantly modifying current platform’s configuration.

Therefore, a first step on the green transitional pathway must be a focus on the land and naval domain, to offer solutions to their existing platforms, for example by analysing Sustainable Fuels (SF) keeping EUGD and suitable to be used in retrofitted conventional combustion engines or looking at adaptations of conventional propulsion systems to enhance efficiency. The use of SF must not change the vessel’s and vehicle’s current structure neither compromise their present operational range.

Supporting the scale-up of innovative propulsion technologies for defence applications (marine, land) is essential to make military equipment more efficient and less reliant on fossil fuels. This research topic may cover several areas such as low carbon advanced fuels, improved engine energy efficiency, hybridisation or alternative propulsion concepts.

Future capability and operational challenges require to conduct research on the next generation of integrated architectures for military platforms, able to manage energy distribution for propulsion, in order to enhance their mobility, their survivability, their capability and their resilience to cope with multiple threats within a large range of missions, while reducing fossil energy, ensuring maintainability and support, and optimising life cycle costs.

Technological challenge:

The solutions must ensure high level of safety, low logistics footprint and life cycle cost reduction. The solutions must also take into account the possibility of retrofitting existing units at low cost.

Based on civil industry research achievements and civil-driven innovations, no technology risk is expected regarding, for example, the adaptation of available bio-fuel and e-fuel to be used as a reference to develop a military standard for the use of SF.

Market barriers:

The solutions may derive from COTS components when possible in order to be affordable and to ensure maintainability and support in operations.

Specific objective

The specific objective of this topic is to spin-in results generated in other civil EU-funded research programmes to the defence sector. To do so, different types of innovative propulsion systems that are integrated into innovative energy architectures are to be identified and analysed. This spin-in of knowledge into the defence sector should aim to the highest possible reduction of greenhouse gases integrating new technologies. The solutions should consider alternative sources of sustainable fuels (pure biofuels, hydrogen, hydrogen-based fuels as ammonia, methanol, LOHC and e-fuels), used standalone or mixed with conventional fuels, and propulsion solutions. As a first step, the proposals must define the gradual adaptation for the land and naval domain.

As the current platforms appear to be vulnerable to fossil energy supply, the operational benefit provided by the innovative propulsions and energy solutions (higher autonomy, efficiency, redundancy, new operating modes, as e.g. silent mode and extended silent watch, low thermal signature, maintaining access to emission control area) represents an opportunity to foster users’ capability needs. The development of joint European capabilities on core alternative propulsion and energy architectures must nevertheless address the ability to operate in specific military scenarios and ensure the highest level of safety, low logistics footprint and life cycle cost reduction.

The proposals should analyse a range of solutions that can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases to meet the EUGD without compromising operational capabilities, including solutions suitable for retrofitting existing units/vessels but also solutions for future units/vessels.

It is also of interest to provide an overview of innovative management of energy for propulsion systems in combination with all the aforementioned additional measures and assess which combination can reduce greenhouse gases most efficiently while maintaining at the same time the requirements requested.

As main challenge, alternative propulsion and energy systems for military platforms will imply to study their integration into a wider scope, in order to maintain their combat effectiveness, thus covering energy supply in operations including powering infrastructure and logistical issues.

The proposals should provide solutions to issues of safety and long-term storage concerns, which make them otherwise inapplicable for military uses. The solutions should be specifically adapted to platforms that operate in critical combat scenarios. Attention should be given to promote solutions for the next generation systems and for retrofitting the current military propulsion systems.

The proposals must address solutions of innovative architectures based on efficient energy management and advanced propulsion technologies for application in defence. Solutions will be analysed/compared through presentation of KPIs or other parametric method. Relevant indexes valid for multiple domains will are preferable.

The proposals must focus on key subsystems covering a complete value chain including sustainable fuels storage and supply, analysing the impact of the military requirements on the internal combustion engines design (covering current and future engines) and auxiliary energy systems in order to optimise the cost-effectiveness of the solution implemented.

The proposals must include the exploration of technologies, from off-the-shelf (civilian, pending relevance and military solutions) to alternative power/energy generation capacities or innovations, and characterise the potential gains, risks, development and production roadmaps regarding platform propulsion performance needs and different operational scenarios (training, missions, low / high intensity conflicts). Moreover, the proposals should analyse the best option in every case in terms of cost, efficiency and safety.

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):

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

• Integrating knowledge:
  • state-of-the-art of current military and civilian SF and propulsion solutions;
  • identification of several improved technological solutions for optimised propulsion architecture allowing to increase power density, energy generation, energy storage and energy distribution and management efficiency;
  • define together with defence end-users best efficient and sustainable solutions for the military applications and in different operational scenarios, the storage and operational requirements in terms of risk of explosion, corrosion, toxicity, safety and logistic facilities;
  • identify and analyse possible SF regarding their properties and availability regarding military constraints;
  • provide monitoring and analysis of critical technologies, their potential applications, identify barriers, existing gaps and dependencies related to sustainable fuels.
• Study:
  • evaluate advanced propulsion and energy architectures for next generation of platforms und upgrade/retrofitting of current platforms, including from a cost perspective;
  • characterise the effect of the solutions on the physical components, engine behaviour, efficiency, consumption, maintained plans, life cycle cost, and materials behaviour;
  • define the optimum operational scenarios (area, modes, type of mission, etc.) offered by each solution including the characterisation of the improvement of military functions (stealth mobility, low emissions, etc.) but also the performance limitations (range, autonomy, speed, etc.);
  • assess the impact of the solutions on safety, risk of incidents, vulnerability towards threats through a FMECA approach;
  • define the business case, cost analysis and the supply chain of the solutions that contribute to EU strategic autonomy;
  • define SF application standard for military including onboard storage and distribution system analysis, including long-term storage and stability;
  • run a training and manufacturing requirement analysis in order to sustain their manufacturing and application processes;
  • evaluate the environmental benefits of the solutions with life cycle assessment including at least greenhouse, NOx, SOx gases and particles impact, as well as impact on abiotic depletion and use of critical raw materials.
• Design:
  • simulation and modelling in order to provide a technical evaluation of the solutions and to define the adaptations needed whether they are physical components or functionality ones;
  • provide long-term test bench information regarding the behaviour of the platform propulsion architecture and its different components, including fuel storage solutions. Depending on the technologies to be evaluated, one or several tests should be used to identify the relevant ones for maturity;
  • develop a production roadmap along with the design of the most relevant energy management architecture;
  • demonstration of technologies and partial testing of a proposed solution. Design a maintenance plan for the technologies involved.

In addition, the proposals should cover the following tasks:

• Study:
  • identify technology shortfalls that need to be addressed in subsequent activities at EU or national level.
• Design:
  • demonstrate the product/technologies in a representative military environment.

In order to avoid unnecessary duplications and to best complement R&D efforts already targeting civil applications, the research conducted must build on R&D results of projects funded by EU programmes targeting civil applications for efficient spinning-in of knowledge and innovative solutions to the defence sector.

In addition, research activities should be in line with activities conducted by EDA (e.g. the incubation forum for circular economy in European defence (IF-CEED) activities) in this area.

Functional requirements

The proposed product/technologies should meet the following functional requirements:

• be compatible in a dual-use approach with at least one of the following sustainable fuels: biofuels, hydrogen, hydrogen-derived fuels and e-fuels;
• be capable to use greener sources of energy and operate with a dual fuel engine which combines current fuel solutions and advanced sustainable fuels;
• improve efficiency of propulsion component technologies (weight, volume and other performances such as acceleration, stealth mobility, etc.);
• improve the energy and power generation to serve increasing energy demand of auxiliary energy production for onboard systems and unmanned aerial and naval vehicles;
• improve energy storage density without compromising safety;
• be adapted for the retrofit of typical defence solutions currently present in the Member States and EDF associated countries (Norway) armed forces or for the development of future solutions, while meeting the Green Deal requirements;
• be compatible with NATO/EU logistics, meaning it should lead to a common solution that allows, amongst others, for refuelling;
• ensure the possibility of global operations;
• be compliant with relevant national, European and global regulations and standards.