28/03/2018 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 28 March, some 42 partners from 15 member states officially signed a grant agreement as part of the Ocean 2020 research project on maritime surveillance and maritime interdiction. The research project focuses in particular on the deployment of drones at sea. The project is due to receive €35 million from the European Defence Fund for the 2017-2019 period (out of a total of €90 million). Spain, Estonia, France, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK are among the participating states. This is the first agreement signed for a research project in 2018 under the European Defence Fund. The first research project was conducted in December 2017 under the Pythia consortium (see EUROPE 11933). (PH)