Emerging technologies lead to the increased appearance of threats that are difficult to detect and track due to their low radar cross-section (RCS) (e.g., stealth technologies), manoeuvring characteristics (e.g., hypersonic weapon systems, slow- moving airborne units) or saturation attack tactics. Facing such a wide spectrum of threats (in terms of variation of speed, angle of approach and altitude), existing surveillance systems are reaching their limits in terms of detection range, angular domain coverage, and tracking capabilities.

Development of electronig components and their integration that help to accomplish:
-improved size/weight/power ratios through miniaturisation and system integration
-integration of new technologies to increase the system’s adaptability to environments and operational scenarios
-demonstration of agile and precise radar beam steering and detection performance

-Agile digital beamforming to optimise observation time, volume coverage and detection reliability
-System characteristics such as wide or ultra-wide band coverage, low noise, high coherence
-Software defined waveforms with high degree of flexibility and use of multiple bands
-Data processing functions to enhance detection performance, target recognition and classification, notably with respect to new threats

The proliferation of advanced long-range Integrated Air Defence Systems (IADS), incorporating threats that can operate across different frequency bands and attack aircraft at ranges up to 400 km, could create Anti Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) areas. In such A2/AD areas, which could equally affect EU Member States’ and associated countries’ airspace, air operations including projection of forces by air would not be possible in case of emergence of a crisis.

-Development of complementary building blocks technologies and components addressing the electronic warfare challenges and the development and the production of a prototype as an airborne electronic attack capability demonstrator by the end of 2027
-Threat identification and tracking should be addressed, as the prerequisite for effective electronic counter measure (ECM)
-Consider potential synergies and complementarity with ongoing projects at national, multinational or EU level

-Enable any platform involved in AEA missions to adapt to the latest in electronic warfare (EW) requirements, which include (soft) suppression of enemy air defences, escort role, electronic attack, self-protected/time-critical strike support, and continuous capability enhancement
-Develop in the area of electronic attacks
-Develop a set of building blocks to be installed in different platforms and systems leading to the reduction of the operational risks related to EU Member States and Norway air force engagements within European territories as well as the force-projection in other potential areas of operations.

Proposals will contain a set of activities, but are not necessarily limited to, sustainable fishery management and practices, pollution reduction and sustainable shipping,prevention and control of invasive species, marine habitat preservation and protection, establishment of marine reserves impacts of climate change and nursery habitats. To safeguard biodiversity against climate change, adaptive management approaches are also expected to be considered as well as minimisation of cumulative impacts of other stressors.

-Quantify the impact of climate change (acidification, sea-level rise, deoxygenation, ocean warmings, primary production, phytoplankton and zooplankton, etc.) on ocean and coastal ecosystems and biodiversity will be important to understand the stressors
-Support evidence-based data and awareness rasing on biodiversity conservation in relation to local/regional development and capacity building and will establish good practices for biodiversity-friendly local/regional initiatives and inspire specific transnational cooperation with EU Macro-regional regions

-Enhance the implementation of the Biodiversity Strategy 2030
-Technological, logistical, social and economic innovations to counteract marine biodiversity loss
-Enhance basin-scale cooperation in the Atlantic and Arctic, including through transition arrangements that create socially and economically sustainable propositions for local stakeholders

Enhanced quality and enhanced efficiency of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring and Copernicus Climate Change services to respond to evolving policy and/or user requirements and to technological developments

The areas of R&I are:
– Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service evolution
– Copernicus Climate Change Service evolution
– Research activities to develop new and innovative methods to improve the numerical requirements (accuracy, mass-conservation) for the numerical schemes in the CO2MVS system

– Continuation of the set-up of the new Copernicus service element for the monitoring of anthropogenic CO2 emissions

– Development of efficient and reliable new product chains

– Development of new algorithms and processing chains preparing for the use of new types of space observation data

– Development of innovative and robust methodologies for characterising the likelihood of occurrence extremely hazardous events as well as of compound and/or sequences of and/or cascading hazardous events in the present and in future climate

– Development of an appropriate framework for attributing extreme compound, sequences and/or cascading events to climate variability and change

The coastal zones have tremendous social, economic and biological value but are exposed to a high level of pressure due to climate change and human activities. It is essential to advance Copernicus solutions to answer policy (e.g. WFD, MSFD, MSP, CFP, Flood Directive, Arctic Policy, Green Deal) needs to better manage and protect the coastal zone, to ensure the development of a sustainable blue economy (e.g. tourism, energy extraction, fisheries, offshore operations, industrial port areas, cities growth), and to build resilience to climate change, human activities being potentially exposed and vulnerable to many hazards of natural or anthropic origins, including storm surges, flooding, acidification, ice melting, and degradation of ecosystems.

-Development of improved pan-European satellite coastal observation retrievals (e.g. sea level, sea surface temperature, ocean colour, bathymetry, shoreline position, winds, waves, ice changes.), notably derived from Sentinel data, and an improved access and processing of in-situ data in the coastal zone
-Development of improved inputs of freshwater flows and associated river inputs of particulate and dissolved organic and mineral matter
-Development of improved coupling techniques between Copernicus Marine observations and modelling systems and downstream coastal observation and modelling systems operated by Member States and Copernicus Participating States including an impact assessment for key coastal applications and EU policies (e.g. MSFD, WFP, MSP, CFP, Green Deal).

-Enhanced quality and efficiency of the Copernicus Marine Environment Monitoring Service to respond to policy and user requirements, technological developments implementing the space regulations, and challenges targeted by the Horizon Europe Mission on ‘Healthy oceans, seas, coastal and inland waters’
-Development of efficient and reliable new products chains
-Development of new algorithms and processing chains preparing the use of the new types of space observation data in order to allow development of new products or the improvement of existing products

Military information superiority is key to multi-domain operations, because they are relying on the best possible battlefield awareness, which is created by the exploitation of data acquired by modern sensors, integrated both in a range of platform and in a range of concepts of use enabled by the digital transformation of the battlefield.

-Enhancing detection performance (such as range, sensitivity, resolution) of sensor systems to detect low signature targets, in the modern three-dimensional operational environment while maintaining covert operation, without exposing presence, identity and location.
-Enhancing individual sensors as well as their interplay
-Developing sensor integration to battlefield management systems
-Optimizing available sensor resources in order to achieve optimum surveillance results

For efficient Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions, armed forces need to have sensors that reliably allow detection, classification and tracking of targets while being themselves difficult to detect, track and intercept. The capability to sense covertly allows unhindered operation without exposing location and identity to the enemy surveillance activities, thus lowering the vulnerability of own forces and conferring a key advantage in military conflicts.

In the Danube river basin area and the Danube river delta more than 70% of its wetlands, flood plains, coastal wetlands such as salt marshes have been lost and/or disconnected and the remaining wetlands are under pressure from human activities, such as discharges of sewage and waste water, drainage for agricultural use and pollution. Yet, wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems and they are important hotspots of biodiversity. They provide key ecosystem services, such as water retention and purification, serve as a buffer in case of floods and droughts, remove excess nutrients and reduce of eutrophication as well as contribute to the management of riverine sediments. They have also a potential as carbon sinks reducing the input of greenhouse gas emissions in the future

-Demonstration of active and passive restoration of wetlands, flood plains, coastal wetlands such as salt marshes including in the transitional waters of the Danube river delta at a large scale
-Monitoring of carbon sequestration capacity of the wetlands, coastal wetlands such as salt marshes covered by the projects and of the impacts of changes in the climate system on this capacity as well as assessment of the impact of different ecosystem management methods and human activities in these ecosystems on their carbon sequestration capacity

-Contribute to the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan and the Water Framework Directive as well as other EU instruments and policies that concern freshwater ecosystem protection
-Contribute to the implementation of the protection and restoration of wetlands, flood plains and coastal wetlands and salt marshes under the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
-Reverse the deterioration of the wetlands, flood plains, and salt marshes in the Danube river basin
-Improve protection of local communities and ecosystems from extreme events

In the Danube river basin area and the Danube river delta more than 70% of its wetlands, flood plains, coastal wetlands such as salt marshes have been lost and/or disconnected and the remaining wetlands are under pressure from human activities, such as discharges of sewage and waste water, drainage for agricultural use and pollution. Yet, wetlands are among the most productive ecosystems and they are important hotspots of biodiversity. They provide key ecosystem services, such as water retention and purification, serve as a buffer in case of floods and droughts, remove excess nutrients and reduce of eutrophication as well as contribute to the management of riverine sediments. They have also a potential as carbon sinks reducing the input of greenhouse gas emissions in the future

-Demonstration of active and passive restoration of wetlands, flood plains, coastal wetlands such as salt marshes including in the transitional waters of the Danube river delta at a large scale
-Monitoring of carbon sequestration capacity of the wetlands, coastal wetlands such as salt marshes covered by the projects and of the impacts of changes in the climate system on this capacity as well as assessment of the impact of different ecosystem management methods and human activities in these ecosystems on their carbon sequestration capacity

-Contribute to the European Green Deal, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan and the Water Framework Directive as well as other EU instruments and policies that concern freshwater ecosystem protection
-Contribute to the implementation of the protection and restoration of wetlands, flood plains and coastal wetlands and salt marshes under the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance
-Reverse the deterioration of the wetlands, flood plains, and salt marshes in the Danube river basin
-Improve protection of local communities and ecosystems from extreme events

Fit for purpose in-situ Earth observations are essential for understanding environmental systems and assessing feedback loops/impacts in important interfaces, as is the land-sea interface at the coastal zones. Especially through the contribution of satellite data, there are still important gaps to be addressed to integrate in-situ Earth observations from the terrestrial and marine domains. There is a need for increased capacity to assess trans domain impacts, develop and validate detailed models and forecasting applications in the land-sea interface.

– Assessment of current in-situ observing capabilities and protocols of the terrestrial and marine domains, including hydrology, with emphasis on the coastal zones and focus on terrestrial/hydrological input to the sea
– Development of methods, tools, technologies and processes to fill the identified gaps

following the assessment and to increase integrated observing capacity in the coastal

zones and in the land-sea interface

– Development of interoperability standards between terrestrial and marine data and coordination of existing observation services and networks

– Advance forecasting and modelling capacity in the coastal zones
– Developing close coordination and collaboration across scientific communities

– Increased availability of integrated in-situ observations at the land-sea interface, with particular emphasis on river mouths, estuaries and deltas in Europe

– Appropriate/improved interoperability standards and new methods, protocols and technologies for integrated observation at the land-sea interfaces, standardised methods to efficiently combine Earth observation data from different sources

– Improved hydrological, biogeochemical, ecological and coastal modelling based on the integration and combination of these new sources of in-situ observations and their combination at the land-sea interface

– Enhanced networking between the relevant observation communities and training of the citizen science community

Pest monitoring is typically performed through costly and time-consuming on-site visits, resulting in certain cases in limited spatial and temporal resolution. Consequently, there is a need for more cost-effective approaches to detect and discriminate infested plants and/or trees at large spatial scales and within reasonable time frames.

– Develop and test early detection strategies by exploiting digital technologies

– Enhance and optimize the use of insect traps in a network setting for an IoT approach

– Develop user-friendly and accessible tools or methods

– Contribute to disentangle biotic and abiotic stresses, enabling the early detection of pests

– Collect standardised and comprehensive data

– Assess the cost-benefits of the proposed methods;

– Integrate citizen science as a tool to monitor pests

– Increase the availability of large-scale and robust plant scanning methods to monitor plant pests, to assist territorial surveillance and help with timely eradication or optimisation of containment measures

– Enhance innovative and cost-efficient integration of methods
– Strengthen capacities to prevent entry and spread and to monitor EU regulated plant pests and support plant health territorial surveillance

– Foster transdisciplinary cooperation in the fields of plant health, environmental sciences and earth observation

– Support relevant EU and Associated Countries’ plant health policies