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Horizon Europe Cluster 3 — Civil Security & Disaster Resilience

Horizon Border Security: Surveillance & Drone Detection

Funds two €6M projects that build border detection and surveillance tech, run jointly with national Border and Coast Guard authorities.

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Europe's land and sea borders are getting harder to watch. Migration pressure, conflict, and economic, social, and climate stress push more people to cross irregularly, often in dangerous conditions that call for search and rescue. At the same time, cheap and increasingly capable drones, uncrewed boats, and underwater vehicles make it easier to move goods — and sometimes people — across the same b

Developing and demonstrating technology that improves land and sea border surveillance and situational awareness for Europe's Border and Coast Guard authorities: detecting, locating, characterising, and — where legally allowed — neutralising unmanned aerial, surface, and underwater vehicles used to smuggle goods or people across external EU borders, and improving general situational awareness during large-scale or irregular border-crossing events and search-and-rescue operations. Proposals must show a measurable, beyond-state-of-the-art improvement in detection range, accuracy, response time, automation, or system resilience, and integrate with the EU's EUROSUR border-surveillance system.

CycleiHow often this grant runs — e.g. annually, on a rolling basis, or a one-off call.Annual
Next deadlineiThe next date applications are due. Rolling means you can apply any time.5 Nov 2026
Decision timeiTypical time from the deadline to the funder's decision.22 weeks
Project durationiHow long the funded work is expected to run.
Award typeiThe form of funding — grant, equity, loan, tax credit, etc.Grant
Match fundingiThe share of project costs you must cover yourself. 0% = fully funded.30%
Funding pooliThe total budget available across all awards in this round.€12M

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Last verified: 25 Aug 2026Funder reference: HORIZON-CL3-2026-01-BM-01Source: ec.europa.eu