On 28-29 January, the kick-off meeting for the Europen Defence Fund’s European Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems (E-CUAS) project, led by Leonardo, took place in Rome, Italy.
The #ECUAS project aims to design and develop fully functional counter-drone (#CUAS) prototypes, validating them in air defence scenarios relevant to the participating armed forces. These systems will integrate various sensors, such as radar, optical, acoustic, radio frequency, Command and Control (C2) and various effectors to detect, identify, track, support engagement and decision-making, and neutralize small drone threats (Class 1 UAS, up to 150 kg).
Among the attendees of the meeting were representatives of the ECUAS Consortium, comprising 25 companies from 13 EU countries (Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, Estonia, Sweden, Norway, and Greece). Also present were the Project Officer from the European Commission - DEFIS, the Project Manager from the Italian Ministry of Defence (Ministero della Difesa) - Secretariat of Defence - IV Department, who coordinates the community of European Ministries of Defence (MoDs) sponsoring and co-funding the project, as well as representatives from the participating MoDs.
Hellenic Aerospace Industry proudly participates to the E-CUAS project, as one of the companies that will shape the future of counter-UAS systems. HAI will further develop its HPM-DEW Effector and demonstrate it through the Italian scenario, in close collaboration with our valuable partners in Leonardo Electronics.
The kick-off meeting for project Archytas has finally taken place in Bolzano.
For the first time in its history, IDV played a leading role in one of the awarded EDF projects, acting as coordinator of the entire ARCHYTAS project: a consortium of n.22 public and private Entities from 11 EU countries granted by Eu for €19.9 million to investigate non-conventional Artificial Intelligence (AI) accelerators for defence applications, using novel technologies.
The EDF (European Defence Fund) is a key instrument of the European Commission for promoting cooperation in the defence sector through competitive and collaborative projects.
We're proud to officially start working on this EDF project, joined by all our partners for this kick-off meeting.
Der finnische Verteidigungsminister hat die Streitkräfte dazu ermächtigt, das Implementierungsdoument FAMOUS IA2, das Projektabkommen FAMOUS 2 und das nationale Abkommen zu FAMOUS 2 zu unterzeichnen. FAMOUS 2 ist Teil des Projekts für arktische Mobilität des finnischen Heeres und soll zur Ablöse der bisher genutzten Kettenfahrzeuge führen. Die EU und die beteiligten Staaten stellen Fördermittel in der Höhe von 100 Mio. EUR bereit. Die Leitung übernimmt Finnland, weitere beteiligte Staaten sind Österreich, Belgien, Griechenland, Frankreich, Spanien, Norwegen und Lettland. Der Gesamtwert des Projektvertrag ohne MWSt. beträgt 11,8 Mio. EUR. Die EU-Kommission fördert das Projekt mit 94,8 Mio. EUR.
Suomen johtama yli 100 miljoonan euron FAMOUS-panssariajoneuvohanke etenee
Thales-led consortium EISNET to boost European air defence
EISNET will define, develop and demonstrate next-generation real-time networks protocols – called the EISNET Architecture Framework Tool (EAFT) – that will allow European radars, passive sensors, and command & control systems from different suppliers and countries to communicate in real-time and exchange data and services between systems dynamically.
The partners are:
THALES LAS FRANCE SAS (Coordinator) France
AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GMBH Austria
BSS aps Denmark
CAFA TECH OU Estonia
CONSORZIO NAZIONALE INTERUNIVERSITARIO PER LE TELECOMUNICAZIONI Italy
DIEHL DEFENCE GMBH & CO. KG Germany
ELETTRONICA SPA Italy
HENSOLDT SENSORS GMBH Germany
INDRA SISTEMAS SA Spain
INTEROPERABILITY SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL HELLAS SINGLE MEMBER SOCIETE ANONYME Greece
LEONARDO - SOCIETA PER AZIONI Italy
MBDA ITALIA SPA Italy
NEDERLANDSE ORGANISATIE VOOR TOEGEPAST NATUURWETENSCHAPPELIJK ONDERZOEK TNO The Netherlands
OFFICE NATIONAL D'ETUDES ET DE RECHERCHES AEROSPATIALES France
POLITECHNIKA WARSZAWSKA Poland
RHEINMETALL ELECTRONICS GmbH Germany
SAAB AKTIEBOLAG Sweden
SPIKA TECH SL Spain
STAM SRL Italy
THALES EDISOFT PORTUGAL, S.A. Portugal
THALES NEDERLAND BV The Netherlands
TOTALFORSVARETS FORSKNINGSINSTITUT Sweden
XYSENSING SPOLKA Z OGRANICZONA ODPOWIEDZIALNOSCIA Poland
Following the Arctic Event the vehicle, which in the first few weeks of existence logged around 300 km, will remain two weeks in Rovajärvi for further deep snow testing. “As soon as the event will be over, we will start our joint tests with the Finnish Defence Forces, and we plan having the second vehicle available next autumn,” the programme manager said, adding that a third vehicle will also be produced, minor changing being possible based on trials results, Patria being however confident that the maturity reached during the FAMOUS development phase should reduce those to a minimum, EDR On-Line understood. Discussions are ongoing on which type of armament should be installed, the first vehicle seen at the event being fitted with a motorised ringmount provided by SIMA Innovation of Denmark fitted with a Gunner Protection Kit (GPK) and armed with a KNDS France M621 20 mm cannon.
Born to operate on soft ground, trials will proceed on muddy soil as soon as the snow will melt, one of the worst-case situations, ground pressure is obviously an issue for such a platform. “At maximum combat weight we have a specific ground pressure of around 32 kilopascal. However, doing tests with our mobility demonstrators, we have learned that this is not the only thing that matters when operating on soft soil, two other key things being the centre of gravity and the approach angle. Last autumn we have done a lot of tests in a swamp, and we found that the best vehicle attitude is to have the front slightly raised. The nice thing is that this works also when you are reversing. For example, we drove through the very soft swamp over 10 times driving on our tracks, something you are taught not to do, and results were very encouraging. To make sure we have a clean track we added a scraper at the front, close to the sprocket, that takes away most of the snow, mud, or gravel,” Mr. Mennala detailed.
The European Main Battle Tank Development (FMBTech) project has been launched to develop the technologies behind the tank of the future
The Technologies for Existing and Future Main Battle Tanks (FMBTech) project has been officially launched. This European project aims to revolutionise Main Battle Tanks (MBTs) for modern hybrid warfare. Coordinated by Thales, the initiative brings together a consortium of 26 companies from 13 European Union (EU) Member States and Norway.
Funded by the European Commission under the European Defence Fund (EDF, 2023 edition) and the consortium, this three-year initiative will develop modular and adaptable solutions to ensure readiness for diverse and complex battlefields.
About FMBTech
A European Consortium with 26 participating entities, FMBTech features 8 SMEs and 7 RTOs from 13 EU Member States and Norway.
The FMBTech project was selected by the European Commission for funding under the European Defence Fund (EDF) in 2023. The project has been allocated a total budget of €19 million.
The EDF is the Commission’s instrument for supporting research and development actions in the defence sector. Its main objectives are to foster cooperation between companies, including SMEs, and Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs) throughout the Union, to promote the development of defence capabilities through investment, and to help EU companies develop advanced and interoperable defence technologies and equipment.
The partners are:
THALES SIX GTS FRANCE SAS France
ARQUUS France
C&V CONSULTING Belgium
CY4GATE SPA Italy
ENVIRONICS OY Finland
EIGHT BELLS HELLAS I.K.E Greece
GMV AEROSPACE AND DEFENCE SA Spain
GUARDIARIS RACUNALNISKE APLIKACIJE IN SIMULACIJE D.O.O Slovenia
HENSOLDT FRANCE SAS France
ISD AEROSPACE LIMITED Ireland
MBDA FRANCE France
MSM LAND SYSTEMS S.R.O Slovakia
KNDS France
OŚRODEK BADAWCZO-ROZWOJOWY URZĄDZEŃ MECHANICZNYCH OBRUM SP. Z O.O. Poland
POLITECNICO DI MILANO Italy
SAFRAN ELECTRONICS & DEFENSE France
SAVOX COMMUNICATIONS OY Finland
SCERTAS GMBH Germany
SKYLD SECURITY AND DEFENCE LIMITED Cyprus
SOPRA STERIA AS Norway
TEKNOLOGIAN TUTKIMUSKESKUS VTT OY Finland
THALES ITALIA SPA Italy
VETRONICS RESEARCH CENTRE EU LTD Cyprus
VOJENSKÝ VÝZKUMNÝ ÚSTAV SP Czech Republic
WOJSKOWA AKADEMIA TECHNICZNA IM. JAROSLAWA DABROWSKIEGO Poland
WOJSKOWY INSTYTUT TECHNIKI PANCERNEJ I SAMOCHODOWEJ Poland
NEUROQUAD
Disruptive “NEURO-QUantum-AI technology symbiosis” for Real-Time Cognitive Monitoring and Decision Support to improve Pilot Control and Safety
BATTLEVERSE
A Human-Centred MSaaS Ecosystem for Enhanced Mission Planning and Execution via Battlefield Modelling, Adversarial AI, and Multi-domain Simulation Environments
