Following the agreement between EUROCONTROL and the European Defence Agency (EDA) signed in 2013, both organisations have been cooperating on the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) programme. In compliance with the initial agreement, the cooperative work has been updated for the years 2017-2018 in order to accommodate the tasks as defined in the SESAR 2020 programme. 

The work programme makes EUROCONTROL’s expertise in civil-military ATM coordination available to EDA to facilitate EDA’s role regarding the coordination of military views in the context of the Single European Sky and its interface towards the EU institutions. 

During the implementation of the previous joint work programme, the EDA-EUROCONTROL cooperation successfully contributed to the provision of harmonised military inputs to the 2015 ATM Master Plan update campaign, supported Member States bidding for EU co-financing in Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) calls and provided technical impact analysis on the SESAR deployment programme and EASA regulatory material under development. 

Jorge Domecq, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency, notes that the deployment phase of SESAR offers an opportunity for the military to obtain funding to enhance their ATM technology, when appropriate. He adds: “This has already been the case for INEA Call 2015, whereby 14 military projects submitted through EDA have been awarded funds adding up to a total of €53.5 million, which is roughly 10.5% of total funds awarded.”