Telecomms projects focus on Armed Forces interoperability
A multinational joint venture that is developing secure European Software Defined Radio (SDR) technology - a4ESSOR S.A.S (Alliance for ESSOR) - has signed a procurement contract with the European intergovernmental Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) to carry out the ESSOR New Capabilities (ENC) project.
Image courtesy Thales
This initiative has received funding from the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP) under grant agreement No 044.
ENC aims to develop three new waveforms - ESSOR NBWF, ESSOR 3DWF and ESSOR SATCOM WF - that will increase the interoperability of European Armed Forces. In addition, the project will also see the alliance enhance the ESSOR Framework, in order to manage the waveforms throughout their whole life cycles and ensure their interoperability when ported on national radio terminals.
Lino Laganà, President and General Manager of a4ESSOR, stressed that the new contract is one of the key enablers of the common European defence. He said that it is a privilege and a great responsibility to run these new projects funded by the European Commission and six ESSOR nations, Italy, France, Spain, Poland, Germany and Finland, following the successful work achieved on the first ESSOR Wide Band WaveForm and the ESSOR Framework.
The new project forms part of the ESSOR programme, which is aimed at improving the interoperability and security of tactical land (ESSOR WBWF and ESSOR NBWF), Air-Ground-Air (ESSOR 3DWF), and satellite communications (ESSOR SATCOM WF). Ensuring the compliance with ESSOR and Software Communication Architecture (SCA)-based software-defined radio platforms, and applying a very strict methodology of qualification of the interoperability between all the radios that host these waveforms, the programme guarantees an effective interoperability of the Forces on the field.
The procurement contract follows EDIDP ESSOR’s Grant Agreement, which OCCAR, on behalf of the European Commission, and the partners signed last July. It will include the participation of new companies from non ESSOR nations, namely Telespazio Belgium, a subsidiary of Telespazio (joint venture between Leonardo, 67%, and Thales, 33%) and Edisoft (Portugal).
The EDIDP, preparatory phase of the European Defence Fund (EDF), is a European Union industrial programme funded by the European Commission to support the competitiveness and innovative capacity of the European defence industry.