Military exercises and combat operations leave behind significant environmental and safety hazards, including shells, residues, and unexploded ordnance (UXO). This call topic addresses the urgent need to reduce human exposure to these dangers while accelerating cleanup in training areas and post-conflict environments. By collecting non-natural waste, sorting it for recycling, and removing hazardous items (including buried UXO such as mortar bombs and artillery grenades), the proposed solutions should support faster restoration of land for civilian use (nature, farmland, rebuilding) and improve the sustainability of defence activities in line with the concept of a “Green Military”.

The general aim is to develop and demonstrate improved methods and equipment for autonomous or semi-autonomous detection and removal of residues and waste from military weapons in training areas and battlefields. The scope includes surface and underground UXOs, but explicitly excludes emplaced weapons such as mines and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). The call emphasises reducing human involvement due to safety risks and the potentially massive scale of the problem (e.g., artillery dud rates of 10–30% and the possibility of very large numbers of unexploded grenades after high-intensity conflict).

The specific objective is to develop and demonstrate a self-learning and scalable system that can detect, classify, identify, destroy or remove, transport, and prepare for recycling objects such as inert grenade casings, rocket motor parts, crashed drones, components/warheads from duds, explosive residues, chemical substances (e.g., white phosphor), buried artillery grenades, and poisonous fragments (e.g., copper, zinc). The system must include a remote management system and unmanned aerial and ground platforms equipped with suitable sensors, tools, and protected loading space or other transport means. Proposals should harness and advance existing technology to a high TRL (e.g., 6 to 8), using dual-use technologies adapted to military requirements such as deployability, mobility, and climatic tolerance. Environmental footprint minimisation is a core requirement, including energy-efficient design, lifecycle management, and operational optimisation, with the ultimate goal of recycling recovered residues.

The scope requires development of an autonomous, energy-efficient, and self-repairable ground platform capable of navigating to reported target positions in an optimal pattern, recovering and sorting detected surface and sub-surface targets for transport and recycling. Proposals must leverage current UAV technology with state-of-the-art sensors to map and classify targets in vast open areas using sensor fusion, AI algorithms, and assisted learning. Swarming and platform cooperation concepts are encouraged, including information sharing between platforms, operation beyond communications range, scalability, and optional concepts like UAV battery charging from the ground platform. The proposal must not duplicate other sensor-system initiatives and must not cover emplaced weapons or industrial-scale recycling processes.

Mandatory activity coverage includes: scenario/threat analysis (including lessons from Ukraine), life cycle assessment and recycling/demilitarisation studies (including artillery ammunition), environmental impact analysis, state-of-the-art detection/classification technology review, feasibility study on autonomous EOD/render-safe procedures (e.g., fuse removal concepts), and a remote management system architecture based on open standards. Design and prototyping must deliver scalable command, control and information systems (C2IS), sensor fusion and AI algorithms, adapted UAV payload integration, an autonomous UGV with detection and retrieval tools (including excavation and recovery from up to 2 metres), render-safe preparation tools, and sorting/transport modules. Testing must include subsystem and system-level trials, detonation robustness and repairability demonstrations, and operational testing in a real environment with operational personnel (potentially via third-party financial support, including possible support linked to Ukraine). Qualification and certification elements must address relevant national/NATO regulations, international humanitarian law considerations, and proposed rules of engagement / concepts of operation for remote/autonomous use.

Opening: 22.01.2026
Deadline(s): 29.09.2026