Defense – Multimodal Data Fusion and Analytics Group

SWARMER

SWARMER SWARMER - Swarming Autonomy in non-peRMissive EnviRonments Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) have become essential assets for situational awareness and tactical support in modern defence operations. The current generation of UAS relies heavily on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) for positioning and mission execution. However, in contested environments, adversaries try to take advantage of such vulnerability by employing electronic warfare tactics, including jamming and spoofing, to deny satellite access. Such "non-permissive environments" can render standard remotely piloted systems ineffective, limiting the operational capability of defence forces to locate targets or surveil areas of interest safely. There is a pressing need for systems that can operate autonomously and reliably without external navigation signals or continuous data links to a ground station. The SWARMER project addresses this capability gap by developing a…

VICTORIOUS

VICTORIOUS VICTORIOUS - Innovative Ai-Enhanced, Remotely Powered, Indirect Fire Observation System Utilizing Unmanned Vehicles Indirect fire support is a crucial component of modern military operations, primarily involving the use of artillery, mortars, rockets, and other indirect fire weapons to engage and neutralize enemy targets that are not within the direct line of sight of the firing unit. Unlike direct fire, where weapons are aimed directly at visible targets, indirect fire relies on the projection of projectiles on a trajectory that allows them to reach targets that may be beyond the observer's line of sight or hidden behind obstacles, such as hills, buildings, or forests. Indirect fire support is typically used to strike at distant or concealed enemy positions, fortifications, and areas of strategic importance, making it a fundamental element of…

ACTING

ACTING Advanced European platform and network of Cybersecurity training and exercises centres The ACTING project delivers an organized and coordinated approach to proactively improve efficiency of cyber defence training and exercises in the European Union, through effective and efficient multi-sector collaboration. The 28 Partners, from 13 MSs, will execute a 48-month work plan to develop, model, and demonstrate a network of advanced interconnected (federated) domain-oriented cyber ranges for training and exercises, incorporating sophisticated methods and techniques for simulation of users, analysis of the performance of the cyber operators, and scoring cyber security situational awareness, supported by leading-edge scenario development language. The ACTING project integrates study, design, prototyping, and testing activities in the domain of cyber security. In order to justify the capabilities of the proposed approach and resulting tools and…

CASSATA

CASSATA Covert and Advanced multi-modal Sensor Systems for tArget acquisiTion and reconnAisance Funded by the EU, the CASSATA project, with a consortium of 27 organizations from 9 countries, including defense groups, academic labs, research organizations, and SMEs, aims to advance covert sensing technologies for defense applications by developing and testing multi-modal sensor systems. The concept of CASSATA relies on exploiting (1) optronics, (2) acoustics/seismic sensing, (3) RF and radar systems, and (4) adaptive and collaborative sensing to enhance European armed forces’ target acquisition and reconnaissance capabilities. CASSATA will implement innovative technologies to improve the covertness of optronic sensors as well as their capabilities of detection, tracking, classification and identification. Both acoustic and seismic sensors will provide a wide area surveillance system which ensures the long-range detection and classification of targets…

TeChBioT

TeChBioT Surveillance and Reconnaissance Techniques for Chemical & Biological Threats Threats associated with chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) hazards include natural disasters, accidental incidents during the installation or transportation of hazardous materials, as well as intentional incidents, such as terrorist attacks or state-sponsored events. Over the past decade, CBRN threats that originate deliberately have persisted or even increased. However, the COVID-19 pandemic is the event that has generated the most attention regarding the social, political, and economic consequences of CBRN crises in general, as well as biological/ health emergencies and civil protection mechanisms. Important gaps and weaknesses remain in rapid detection, identification, and monitoring of low-volatile chemical warfare agents (CWAs) and non-volatile biological warfare agents (BWAs), mainly in complex natural environments. Gas chromatography combined with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) or…

FaRADAI

FaRADAI Frugal and Robust AI for Defence Advanced Intelligence An important crosscutting need for Artificial Intelligence is to create technologies for trustworthy autonomous and frugal learning, i.e. the ability of a system to adapt and learn from its environment, including from user supervision, for a reasonable cost and without intervention from expert developers nor regression. Such technologies can be highly disruptive and have high impacts for many capabilities, especially when the information to manage is highly variable or unpredictable and high adaptability is needed. These technologies can also alleviate the current need to provide data to the system developers to get improvements depending on such data, which can be critical when the data is confidential, and is thus critical for defence. They can more generally enhance technological independence. Selected actions…