Technologies and processes for maintenance, joining and repair through an innovation test hub

Topic description

Objective:

The increasing requirements for future military systems demand not only improved performance but also economic and ecological improvements. In order to meet these requirements in the area of structures and construction methods, modular and multi-material designs or the integration of functions are considered as particularly promising. For example, the combination of different materials such as fibre composites and metals shows a very high potential for performance enhancement with simultaneous economic and environmental advantages. To exploit the potential of such new material technologies in military systems, suitable, high-performance and technically mature joining technologies are required. Additionally, new sensorised materials might enable new certification procedures for joining technologies.

Given the harsh environment in which military systems have to operate and the increase risk of damage during operation, the operability and survivability of platforms depend on fast, efficient and reliable repair methods. The advantages of new materials technologies can only be fully exploited if adequate repair technologies are available and could, ideally, be used in the field.

Due to the complexity of today’s systems not only the procurement is capital-intensive but the maintenance also generates considerable costs and the need for significant logistic support. Developing new methods that can decrease the effort to fulfil the operational needs without any negative effect on safety will result in advantage for both civil and military operators. Advances in repair and maintenance technologies will also reduce the environmental footprint of defence equipment. An example for new concepts of maintenance, are technologies involving the use of in-structure or on-structure health monitoring sensors, such as those addressed by the call EDF-2021-NAVAL-R-SSHM. To make such concepts useable for future military systems they need to be matured, repair and maintenance aspects should be taken into account and most importantly, the technologies need to be tested and qualified.

There are several technologies under development in national and European projects addressing the area of maintenance, joining and repair. Research and Development projects often lead to a technology readiness level (TRL) of approximatively 4, meaning that new technologies show potential for use in future military applications and have been validated in a lab. However, these technologies have not yet been tested at demonstrator level (TRL 6/7) and therefore cannot yet be considered useable in military products. The gap between technological proof-of-concept and (at least partially) qualified solutions is often difficult to overcome for innovative solutions. New sources of funding must be found, as further maturation efforts can often not be covered by research funding. At the same time, connections must be established with certification entities, planned defence projects and potential end users, often still unaware of the new technological opportunities. Because of these challenges, summarised as ‘valley-of-death’, new defence products are often delayed in their transfer into new defence products or even abandoned, although the technologies show large potential for future applications. Specific support to overcome the valley-of-death will enable the use of (partially) qualified and certified technologies in next generation military systems to produce, operate and maintain them at a fraction of cost of current systems.

Specific objective

This topic will provide support to collaborative development activities to setup demonstrator platforms and test candidate technologies for maintenance, joining and repair, in order to propel those technologies’ maturity and allow them to be approved and/or qualified.

There will only be a limited number of innovative technologies directly available within a selected consortium. Therefore, the consortium will be requested to reach out to third parties across the EU and EDF associated countries, in particular SMEs, including start-ups, to test a broad spectrum of technological solutions and give those innovative players the opportunity to demonstrate the potential of their ideas to relevant players in the defence application field. As a tool to enable this open innovation approach, funding for financial support to third parties (FSTP) will be integral part of the awarded grant. The consortium will be required to organise calls to third parties to select and award start-ups and SMEs. The selected third parties will be offered the opportunity and financial support to test their solutions, receive technical mentoring and other relevant acceleration services for a specific time period.

Therefore, the specific objective of this topic is twofold. The first is the development of a new test environment for testing and the improvement of technologies up to certification level. The second is the creation of a cross-border defence innovation network that encompasses players that would otherwise not have the means to access EDF actions, thereby further enhancing innovation capacity and competitiveness of the European Defence Industrial and Technological Base.

The consortia responding to the call may include a large variety of entities, such as military or civil test centres, research institutes, universities, industry, certification authorities, accelerators or incubators as well as other organisations that can play a role in the establishment or certification of new technologies for repair, joining and maintenance or that can support the associated innovation support measures targeted towards third parties receiving financial support.

This topic aims at supporting the technological maturation of various joining or repair or maintenance technologies, including the associated processes.

The proposals must address the setup of a suitable demonstrator platform as a test environment which offers the possibility to test, qualify and certify technologies covering the fields of joining, repair and maintenance. This may include the establishment of adequate test protocols. The platform may be focussing on one of the defence application domains air, land or naval or the combination of land and naval domains. The demonstrator platform should be a generic system suitable for this domain (e.g. a plane, a ship, a truck, etc.). The proposals may involve the set-up of a new platform or the partial modification of existing systems to be used as a demonstrator platform, e.g. by replacing individual parts and components or by integrating additional functions, sensors, etc. In addition, various parts or components may be manufactured multiple times to cover different technologies.

The proposals must test various joining or repair or maintenance technologies or combination of them. The considered technologies should have reached the stage of experimental proof-of-concept (TRL 3) or, preferably laboratory validation (TRL 4) but may also have been already validated in a relevant environment (TRL 5). The proposals must address the technological maturity of promising technologies to lead them towards qualification and certification. This must encompass all tests and approvals to achieve the demonstration of the technology in a relevant or operational environment (TRL 6 or 7). The considered technologies must encompass technologies that are not available within the consortium. Technologies must be relevant for military applications but may include technologies originally developed for civil applications. Technologies adequate for ‘in-field’ repairs should be considered.

The proposals must describe how entities with expertise on the relevant technologies know-how will be supported, including the proposed implementation conditions for FSTP. Beneficiaries of FSTP that contribute with a joining or repair or maintenance technology must receive financial support to prepare a sample of their technology, to attend and support the testing of their technological sample, and to technologically improve their solution. FSTP may also be provided to entities that contribute with analysis and measurement capacities, technology-specific expertise, innovative tools, or support the manufacturing of technology test samples or components necessary for testing. The proposals must include technical mentoring for the selected beneficiaries of the FSTP as well as the set-up of additional measures to support the beneficiaries’ business case.

Although the proposals may consider joining and repair technologies that are applicable and involve the use of additive manufacturing processed parts, the proposals must not focus on the improvement of additive manufacturing processes themselves, as those are covered by the call EDF-2021-DIS-RDIS-AMD. The proposals may not target minor improvements of technologies not having achieved a proof-of-concept (below TRL 3).

Types of activities

The following table lists the types of activities which are eligible for this topic, and whether they are mandatory or optional (see Article 10(3) EDF Regulation):

The proposals must cover at least the following tasks as part of the mandatory activities:

• Design:
  • design of a test environment to test and certify technologies for joining, repair or maintenance, including the demonstrator platform;
  • design of components based on innovative technologies for joining, repair or maintenance to be integrated in the demonstrator platform.
• System prototyping:
  • prototyping of a demonstrator platform for various joining or repair or maintenance technologies or combination of those.
• Testing:
  • testing at component and demonstrator level of various joining or repair or maintenance technologies or combination of those that may be developed by entities selected through a call for FSTP at component level.
• Qualification:
  • preparation of documentation and reviews necessary for qualification of the technology or component, e.g. TRL reviews.

In addition, the proposals should cover the following tasks:

• Design:
  • design of digital mock-up or digital twin and simulation of manufacturing and assembly.
• Qualification:
  • qualification of joining or repair or maintenance technologies.

The proposals may also cover the following tasks:

• Design:
  • partial testing of samples of innovative technologies at component level to prepare their integration in the demonstrator platform;
  • support of multi-disciplinary design optimisation;
  • adaptation of the platform design in accordance with the outcome of a call for FSTP.

Concerning the implementation of the FSTP, the proposals must cover the following tasks:

• Integrating knowledge:
  • technical mentoring of beneficiaries selected through sub-calls to receive financial support to third parties.
• Studies:
  • screening and identification of landscape of suitable candidates from various sectors, including those that have not been active in the defence sector before, for the sub-calls organised by the consortium providing FSTP;
  • preparation of the call documentation to issue up to two sub-calls for FSTP;
  • organisation of up to two sub-calls for FSTP;
  • selection and award of beneficiaries for FSTP;
  • offering of an entrepreneurship class on doing business in the defence domain to beneficiaries of FSTP calls;
  • setting up of collaboration and networking activities for beneficiaries of FSTP and other SMEs.

Up to EUR 3 600 000 of the total topic budget may be allocated to FSTP. However, the FSTP in the proposals should target but not exceed 12% of the requested EU contribution. The FSTP can NOT be provided through services offered by the consortium directly.

The FSTP should be issued in up to two distinct calls, with a target from minimum 10 and up to 30 recipients (third parties) per call and where:

• the recipients must be established in the EU or in EDF associated countries
• the recipients must not be subject to control by non-associated third countries or non-associated third-country entities

The calls must be open, published widely (to ensure a clear EU outreach) and conform to EU standards concerning transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality and must remain open for at least two months.

The outcome of the calls must be published on the participants’ websites, including a description of the selected projects, award dates, project durations, and final recipient legal names and countries.

The beneficiaries may be involved in any type of task within the proposal. Possible tasks at the level of the calls for third parties may include:

• feasibility studies on alternative solutions, life-cycle analysis (LCA) as well as life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA)
• preparation of sample repair, joining, maintenance technologies to be tested
• analysis support
• measurement capacities
• manufacturing capacities to support the testing or the sample preparation
• support of multi-disciplinary design optimisation.

The FSTP must target in priority SMEs (including start-ups). Participation of entities other than SMEs can only be accepted where no SMEs are available to demonstrate the capacity or expertise needed for the project during its lifetime.

The FSTP should include various entities from different Member States and EDF associated countries (Norway) and different sectors, including those not active in the defence sector.

The FSTP calls should aim to ensure a balance between experienced SMEs and newcomers.

Certification at company-level or approval as production organisation is not mandatory, but specific business coaching should be provided to non-certified companies.

Your project application must clearly specify:

• the objective and the mix of proposed support, including a fixed list of the different types of activities for which a third party may receive financial support
• the maximum amount to be granted to each recipient (may not exceed EUR 60 000) and the method for calculating the exact amount of the financial support
• the payment arrangements for payments to the recipients
• the criteria for awarding financial support
• the potential results to be obtained
• the roles and responsibilities of the consortium with regard of the management of FSTP
• a clear methodology allowing to measure the FSTP’s contribution to the innovation performance of the supported SMEs in the short-term, e.g. via indicators such as numbers of new or significantly improved products (goods and/or services), processes, new marketing methods, or new organisational methods, and to its impact on resource efficiency and/or turnover.

Moreover:

• projects addressing activities referred to in point (d) above must be based on harmonised defence capability requirements jointly agreed by at least two Member States or EDF associated countries (or, if studies within the meaning of point (c) are still needed to define the requirements, at least on the joint intent to agree on them)
• projects addressing activities referred to in points (e) to (h) above, must be:
  • supported by at least two Member States or EDF associated countries that intend to procure the final product or use the technology in a coordinated manner, including through joint procurement

and

• • based on common technical specifications jointly agreed by the Member States or EDF associated countries that are to co-finance the action or that intend to jointly procure the final product or to jointly use the technology (or, if design within the meaning of point (d) is still needed to define the specifications, at least on the joint intent to agree on them).

Functional requirements

The proposed solutions and technologies should meet the following functional requirements:

• The demonstrator platform should be modular in order to integrate different technological alternatives for the same or different components or parts;
• The technologies and processes should cover a broad range of innovative solutions. It should cover at least 4 out of the 6 following technologies, without being limited to those:
  • novel materials and multi-material constructions in particular the combination of fibre composites with other materials;
  • multi-functional structures with embedded and integrated sensors (e.g. optical fibres), antennas, vents or any other structure combining mechanical performance and additional functionality;
  • joining technologies applicable for the combination of similar and dissimilar materials, in particular co-bonding, adhesive bonding and welding;
  • repair methods for multi-material and composite structures, e.g. patch-repair, cold-spray process…;
  • inspection technologies applicable during maintenance and for in-situ measurement during the use of a product, like structural health monitoring (SHM);
  • maintenance, repair and operation processes with a high degree of automation covering defect analysis, repair process and quality inspection.
• The technologies considered in the proposals should meet the following requirements:
  • the technologies should have the potential to reduce the production costs or the total costs of ownership by reducing the costs and efforts for maintenance and repair;
  • processes considered should have the potential of a high degree of automation, of a high rate of digital data handling and of information storage and availability at production, maintenance and repair stages;
• The FSTP should:
  • be organised in one or two calls to third parties selecting a target of minimum 10 and up to 30 entities per call, depending on the industrial landscape of the targeted domain, whereas each third party may be supported with up to EUR 60 000 for a maximum 6-month long acceleration programme that encompasses the associated tasks;
  • provide the third parties the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, technologies, capabilities and products;
  • foster the possibilities for future involvement of these third parties in the European defence community;
  • provide the third parties with necessary knowledge on doing business in defence domain, in particular with respect to protection of IPR, IPR strategies, export control and other specificities of the defence sector;
  • provide networking and collaboration activities that facilitate collaboration amongst innovators and between innovators and end-users (including industry and public bodies) throughout the maturation of their product or technology;
  • be accompanied by a clear methodology allowing to measure the FSTP’s contribution to the innovation performance of the supported SMEs in the short-term, e.g. via indicators such as numbers of new or significantly improved products (goods and/or services), processes, new marketing methods, or new organisational methods, and to its impact on resource efficiency and/or turnover;
  • aim at a wider impact on innovation performance of the supported entities in the medium-term.
• The proposals should clearly delineate the expected contributions from the main beneficiaries as well as from the third parties, to ensure their coherence and impact.

The outcome should contribute to:

• increased technological maturity of new processes and technologies to be implemented in future military systems to improve their performance, reliability and competitiveness;
• faster development of new systems including an improved flexibility for usage;
• reduction of repair and maintenance costs and increased lifetime for defence systems;
• reduction of logistics footprint, involving actions of transport, maintenance and repair, in particular for operations in harsh environment;
• reduction of the environmental footprint of defence systems throughout their life-cycle;
• strengthening of the European industrial leadership by reinforcing value chains that integrate innovative solutions from SMEs, including start-ups, along and across existing value chains;
• improvement of the business environment and collaboration opportunities for innovative start-ups and SMEs in the defence domain by supporting open innovation and involving innovative actors and customers from different sectors and countries;
• leveraging and complementing support for innovation which may be provided by national or regional authorities and/or by private investors (as follow-up investments) and fostering cross-fertilisation between sectors.