DEFRA Space Call
Funds Belgian companies doing R&D in defence space capabilities — Earth Observation satellites and Space Situation Awareness systems.
⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.
BELSPO manages the Defence-related Research Action (DEFRA) on behalf of Belgium's Ministry of Defence and Royal Higher Institute for Defence (RHID). This Space Call is a dedicated call under DEFRA for research in two space-related themes relevant to Belgian Defence: Earth Observation (EO) for defence and Space Situation Awareness (SSA). The total available budget is 16.0 million EUR split as 10.0M EUR for EO and 6.0M EUR for SSA. There is no set maximum budget per project, but each project's budget must stay within the theme budget. Contracts and funding come directly from the Ministry of Defence under a Royal Decree.
Projects run two to four years. The call is open to Belgian universities, public research institutes, and private companies including SMEs. A company must have operational or research activities on Belgian territory and be registered in Belgium. The standard triple-helix partnership applies: at least one academic or public research partner and one industry partner must collaborate in each project.
Applications use the same two-phase DEFRA process: a short pre-proposal submitted to the DEFRA online platform (deadline 19 February 2026), evaluated by the RHID scientific committee, followed by full-proposal submission by invitation (deadline 4 May 2026). Full proposals go through remote scientific peer review, ethical evaluation, panel interviews, and final selection by the RHID Board of Directors.
Personnel must be nationals of EU, EFTA, or NATO member countries. For defence space projects, security-related activities follow DEFRA classified information rules. IP ownership stays with the partner that generated it.
Defence space technologies in two themes: (1) Earth Observation — space-based ISR, next-generation EO payloads, electro-optical, SAR and infrared sensors, on-board data processing, LEO mini-satellites; (2) Space Situation Awareness — monitoring space activity, detecting and characterising space threats, AI-enhanced data analytics, satellite constellations for SSA.
Sign up free to see the funding breakdown
Sign up free to see the industries in scope
Sign up free to see the full eligibility
Sign up free to see how to apply
Sign up free to see what you submit
Sign up free to see how they score you
Sign up free to see the timeline
Sign up free to see where teams trip up