European defence consortium submits project proposal to Commission
A consortium comprising of several major defence, communication and cybersecurity companies and high technology SMEs has submitted an application to the European Commission’s European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) for the creation of a multi-mission unmanned ground system capable of being teamed with manned and aerial vehicles.
Led by Estonia's Milrem Robotics, the consortium has proposed a system that consists of an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) equipped with electronic warfare resistant command, control and communications hardware and secure autonomous mobility software that enables the operator to simultaneously and safely control multiple land and air platforms.
According to a statement released by the consortium, the UGVs will be capable of teaming up with manned and aerial vehicles and can be utilised for a variety of missions. These include providing protection, enhancing performance of military missions and providing improved situational awareness to forces on the ground.
The statement also said that the project will allow for the gathering of "operational know-how", combining "concepts for the combined engagement of manned and unmanned assets, while taking into account the ethical aspects applicable to robotics, artificial intelligence and autonomous systems."
The project that the consortium is applying for is titled iMUGS (integrated Modular Unmanned Ground System). iMUGS was officially adopted by 25 EU Defence Ministers in November 2018 as part of the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), itself part of the EU's security and defence policy, CSDP. It is led by Estonia and technical requirements have also been agreed with Finland, Latvia, Germany, Belgium, France and Spain. The project is consistent with several of the European Defence Agency’s 11 major priorities in the 2018 Capability Development Plan.
”A number of European nations will start using unmanned vehicles in logistics and ISR roles, reducing the physical and cognitive load and increasing the safety of our troops. It’s important that this new capability will be well integrated with existing capabilities and force structure,” explained Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics. “It’s equally important that these new unmanned systems are safe to use and cyber protected. This is exactly the scope that iMUGS is targeting,” he added.
The consortium comprises of 14 parties from across the bloc and represents an unprecedented level of cross-border cooperation with regard to defence issues.
The members of the consortium have all signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation: Milrem Robotics, GT Cyber Technologies, Safran Electronics & Defense, Nexter Systems, Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Diehl Defence, Bittium Wireless, Insta DefSec, (Un)Manned, dotOcean, LMT, GMV Aerospace and Defence, the Estonian Military Academy and Royal Military Academy of Belgium.
The aim of EDIDP, which has a financial envelope of €500-million, is 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. Its actions include the ongoing development of next generation ground combat capabilities and solutions in Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Cyber technologies.
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