Advanced border surveillance and situational awareness

What is this call about?

The topic funds solutions that detect unmanned vehicles used for smuggling and improve situational awareness at EU land and sea borders while safeguarding fundamental rights. Projects are expected to reach technology readiness level 6-7.

What does this call fund?

Scope

Situational awareness and surveillance of land and sea borders need to improve to cope with possible large-scale movements of people, including from instrumentalised irregular migration, conflict and economic, social, environmental and climate stress in the European neighbourhood, and with unmanned aerial, surface and underwater vehicles that carry larger payloads over longer ranges and can be used for trafficking of goods and smuggling of people. These challenges matter most for unsupervised, hard-to-control land and sea borders of the Union and the Schengen area.

What proposals should deliver

Solutions should improve the efficiency and reaction time of detection, search, rescue and recovery operations near borders in diverse geographical and weather conditions, and go beyond the state of the art in clearly demonstrable ways, with measurable gains in detection range, accuracy, response time, automation and system resilience. They should:

• be modular and scalable to regional needs, compatible with the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR), with compatibility with other information-sharing environments such as the Common Information Sharing Environment as an additional asset;
• offer reliable and redundant capacity while keeping staff, users and victims of illicit activity safe;
• better safeguard and promote fundamental rights and EU values through an inclusive approach;
• show how the equipment contributes to cost reduction and energy efficiency in border surveillance.

Research can also promote regional cross-border cooperation around demonstration testbeds for innovative border management solutions. Proposals should address the priorities of the European Border and Coast Guard and its Agency (Frontex), starting with requirements and design and alignment with the Capability Roadmap. Frontex gives no guidance on proposal preparation but may observe pilots and demonstrations. Proposals should include a mid-term deliverable assessing outcomes, carried out by the practitioners in the project. Activities are expected to reach technology readiness level 6-7 by the end of the project.

Expected outcomes

Contributions to some or all of: improved detection, localisation, characterisation and, where applicable, neutralisation of unmanned vehicles, alone or in swarms, used for trafficking or smuggling across external borders, in compliance with legal and ethical guidelines; improved border situational awareness during large-scale movements of people; better protection of fundamental rights through enhanced awareness; and reliable, redundant detection and reaction capacity that does not put staff and society at risk.

When is the deadline?

5 November 2026