Theme & challenges
The 2026 Spring Edition Theme
Defending Airspace
The 2026 Spring EUDIS Hackathon will focus on a strategic theme reflecting Europe’s most urgent defence and security priorities. Participants are invited to develop innovative solutions responding to the specific challenge they are most equipped to solve.
Overview of the theme
Defending Airspace – addresses urgent needs in airspace protection and drone defence, building on the European Union’s cooperation with Ukraine.
This theme contains a set of defined challenges that participants are invited to explore. These examples are indicative rather than exhaustive, and teams are encouraged to think creatively, propose dual-use innovations and contribute to practical, deployable solutions.
Defending Air Space
The European Union is committed to strengthening defence cooperation with
Ukraine. Collaborating in the development of cutting-edge drone technologies and innovating in countermeasuring the Shaheds and fibre-optic drones. This initiative is essential to support Ukrainian sovereignty and reinforce Europe’s own security and military readiness.
Through initiatives such as the European Commission’s Drone Alliance with Ukraine, both sides work together to develop practical tools and systems that improve airspace protection. Aiming to help Ukraine become a highly resilient “steel porcupine”: a nation capable of resisting aerial threats through smarter, more advanced defence technologies.
Overview of challenges
The Defending Airspace theme presents teams with four challenges to choose from. Addressing the complicated problems Ukraine faces every day in intercepting and mitigating drone activity. During the Hackathon participants will explore innovative ways to contribute to a more effective multi-layered air defence system. This can include developing ideas that help detect and monitor aerial threats, improve the tracking or neutralisation of hostile drones or enhance the performance of defensive drone platforms.
Challenge 1
Cost-effective drone interceptors
The 2026 Spring Edition Challenge
Ukraine faces critical interceptor shortages as Western allies compete for the same limited production. Defence organisations froze deliveries of key defence systems as simultaneous military activity in multiple regions, including Ukraine and the Middle East, rapidly drained existing inventories. Interceptor missile production capacity will cap at just 650 units annually by 2027. Additionally, the cost to intercept is exhaustive to Ukrainian defences as each Shahed costs $20,000-50,000 while interceptors cost millions, and Russia tolerates 75%+ loss rates. Furthermore, the current interceptor operation systems are resource costly for training specialists. Developing more
Challenge 2
Next generation drone detection systems
The 2026 Spring Edition Challenge
Ukraine’s drone detection infrastructure struggles to keep up with evolving threats. Weather conditions like rain, fog, and low cloud cover impair both visual and thermal cameras, while upgraded Shaheds fly at 477 km/h as low as 100 metres above ground, leaving defenders only five or six seconds to locate, target, and destroy them. Ukraine’s 10,000-15,000 acoustic sensors cannot track over 1,000 drones weekly attacking from multiple directions simultaneously. Detection systems are designed for slower, higher-flying threats and cannot adequately warn against hundreds of fast, low-altitude drones attacking in poor weather across Ukraine’s vast landscape. Part of the Russian strategy involves sending waves of ineffective drones to exhaust detection and deterrence measures before launching assaults aimed at causing damage.
Challenge 3
Local Organiser–Defined Challenge
The 2026 Spring Edition Challenge
In addition to the common challenges under the Defending Airspace theme, Local Organisers will have the possibility to define a third challenge tailored to their specific local or regional context. This challenge will be designed by each Local Organiser to reflect local defence ecosystems, industrial strengths, research capabilities, and operational realities. By allowing Local Organisers to propose a dedicated challenge, the Hackathon encourages solutions that are closely aligned with regional needs and opportunities, while remaining connected to the overarching objective of strengthening European airspace defence. This approach supports greater relevance, stakeholder engagement, and the development of practical solutions that can be tested, demonstrated, or further developed at local level.