19 juin 2020 | International, Terrestre
June 17, 2020 - A consortium led by Milrem Robotics and composed of several major defence, communication and cybersecurity companies and high technology SMEs was awarded 30,6 MEUR from the European Commission's European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) to develop a European standardized unmanned ground system.
During the project, a modular and scalable architecture for hybrid manned-unmanned systems will be developed to standardize a European wide ecosystem for aerial and ground platforms, command, control and communication equipment, sensors, payloads, and algorithms. The prototype system will utilize an existing unmanned ground vehicle – Milrem Robotics' THeMIS – and a specific list of payloads.
The outcome of the project will be demonstrated in operational environments and relevant climatic conditions as part of participating member states military exercises or at separate testing grounds.
The total cost of the project, titled iMUGS (integrated Modular Unmanned Ground System), is 32,6 million euros of which 30,6 million will be provided by the European Commission.
“Robotic and autonomous systems will tremendously enhance defence and military capabilities in the coming years all around the world. iMUGS is an excellent example of how Europe can utilize and develop high-end technologies as a joint effort while avoiding scattering activities and resources,” said Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics.
“It is nice to see, that the European Defence Fund is efficiently consolidating the requirements of EU member states and the European industry's capabilities to increase defence capabilities and strategic autonomy. The European industry is determined and ready to provide efficient and deployable technologies already over the next three years in the course of this project,” Väärsi added.
The project is led by Estonia and its technical requirements have also been agreed with Finland, Latvia, Germany, Belgium, France, and Spain who are planning on financing the remaining 2 MEUR of the projects budget.
During the project operational know-how will be gathered and concepts for the combined engagement of manned and unmanned assets developed, while considering the ethical aspects applicable to robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems. State-of-the-art virtual and constructive simulation environments will also be set up.
iMUGS will be a cooperation between 14 parties: Milrem Robotics (project coordinator), GT Cyber Technologies, Safran Electronics & Defense, NEXTER Systems, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Diehl Defence, Bittium Wireless, Insta DefSec, (Un)Manned, dotOcean, Latvijas Mobilais Telefons, GMV Aerospace and Defence, the Estonian Military Academy and Royal Military Academy of Belgium.
Background
The objectives of the EDIDP programme are to contribute to the strategic autonomy of the European Union and to strengthen the cooperation between Member States. The priorities include enabling high-end operations of military forces with special focus on intelligence and secured communications and cyber. Actions include development of next generation ground combat capabilities and solutions in Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Cyber technologies.
View source version on Milrem Robotics: https://milremrobotics.com/milrem-robotics-led-consortium-awarded-306-meur-by-the-european-commission-to-develop-a-european-standardized-unmanned-ground-system/
27 août 2023 | International, Naval, C4ISR
The Navy's live, virtual and constructive (LVC) tech investments support everything from massive Large Scale Exercises to routine pre-deployment training.
7 décembre 2018 | International, Naval
Four shipbuilding firms and a British consortium have been selected to compete for the Fleet Solid Support ships contract A syndicate of British firms, along with four international shipbuilding companies, have been selected to compete for the Fleet Solid Support ships contract, Defence Minister Stuart Andrew has announced. The crucial vessels, which will deliver ammunition, food and supplies to UK forces across the globe, will work alongside the Royal Navy's fleet of warships and will be an important part of the UK Maritime Task Group. The British consortium is made up of leading manufacturing and engineering companies Babcock, BAE Systems, Cammell Laird and Rolls-Royce. They join Italian firm Fincantieri, Spanish company Navantia, Japan Marine United Corporation, and Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering of South Korea as the five successful firms who have been invited to submit a tender for the competition. Defence Minister Stuart Andrew said: The widespread interest in this competition shows that our Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary remain among the most prestigious in the world. These support ships will be vital for supporting our formidable Queen Elizabeth Class carriers and will ensure our warships can deploy in a range of challenging environments and across huge distances, wherever they are in the world. The five companies, which were selected from eight interested firms, will now develop bids before a final decision is made regarding the winning bidder in 2020. The Fleet Solid Support ships, up to three of which will be procured through international competition as they are not warships, will be fitted with specialist and classified equipment at a British shipyard before entering service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary from 2026. Shipyards across the United Kingdom will be able to bid for this work in 2022. As part of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the vessels will be civilian-manned and carry self-defence weapons only. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/shipbuilding-firms-chosen-for-fleet-solid-support-competition
9 juillet 2020 | International, Aérospatial
Nathan Strout The National-Geospatial-Intelligence Agency issued a new Broad Agency Announcement July 6, giving researchers and academics a new pathway to present intelligence solutions to the agency. NGA is responsible for delivering geospatial-intelligence to war fighters, policy makers and the intelligence community. Under this announcement, the agency is looking for solutions from industry and academia to help them accomplish that mission. “The release of this BAA will help accelerate our research endeavors and provide NGA with the ability to expand and diversify its research performer base, while giving us better flexibility and agility in research contracting efforts,” said Cindy Daniell, director of research and NGA, in a statement. The BAA is seeking research and development concepts that address one or more of the following topics: Foundational GEOINT; advanced phenomenologies, and analytic technologies. Foundational GEOINT - The creation of always accurate, high-resolution, continually updated representations of the earth's properties, available on demand. Advanced Phenomenologies - The use of novel methods and efficient strategies to deliver spatially, spectrally and temporally resolved data from a growing number of traditional and non-traditional sources. Analytic Technologies - The ability to leverage new data sources and new analytics techniques to add geospatial intelligence to multi-intelligence analytics in an effort to address emerging threats and mission domains. More details on each technical domain can be found in the BAA. According to the announcement, NGA plans to make multiple awards, which may take the form of procurement contracts, grants, cooperative agreements or other transactions for prototypes and follow-on production. The agency will be issuing response dates for individual topic areas within the three stated technical domains periodically. A COVID-19 rapid response topic will be one of the first items posted under the BAA according to NGA. https://www.c4isrnet.com/intel-geoint/2020/07/07/nga-looking-to-academia-and-industry-to-boost-research-efforts/