The six projects awarded to GMV, one of them as leader, total 203 million euros and account for 24% of the budget allocated for the 2022 funds
The tech multinational GMV has been awarded six of the projects selected by the European Defence Fund under the second call of the EDF (European Defence Fund) program.
The EDF is intended to sharpen the competitiveness of the European Union defense industry and thus strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy. In this second call for proposals announced on June 26, the Commission has supported a total of 41 joint defense research and development projects across the European Union, with a total budget of 832 million euros in funding. Given their scale and importance, the projects awarded to GMV, one of them as leader, total 203 million euros and account for 24% of the budget allocated for the 2022 funds.
GMV’s involvement once again targets strategic areas for the company. In fact, the value it brings to the table was crucial in clinching these deals, which in turn will improve the company’s international standing with respect to key technologies. The awarded projects focus on developing capabilities in anti-missile early warning systems, avionics, command and control, unmanned systems, navigation, and the use of artificial intelligence in various fields.
In alphabetical order they are as follows:
- CONVOY (ClOud iNtelligent explosiVe detectiOn sYstem): led by GMV, this project combines technologies for detecting and recognizing hidden threats such as improvised explosive devices and landmines.
- EC2 (European Command and Control System): continuation of the EDIDP ESC2 command and control project, which will provide the EU with a multi-domain command and control solution that will ensure interoperability with all government actors.
- FASETT (Future Air System for European Tactical Transportation): analysis of EU Member States’ transport aircraft replacement needs in the 2030-2040 timeframe to identify opportunities for the development of a new European air transport platform.
- ODINSEYE2 (multinational Development INitiative for a Space-based missile earlY warning architecture II): continuation of the EDIDP ODInSEYE project that will provide the EU with a space-based missile early warning system.
- STORE (Shared daTabase for Optronics image Recognition and Evaluation): optimization of integrated image recognition systems based on artificial intelligence and development of a European defense image database.
- SWAT-SHOAL (SWArm and Teaming operation of manned & unmanned underwater vehicle SHOAL): development of a system-of-systems concept, based on swarm technologies, to integrate manned and unmanned naval assets to achieve higher performance and efficiency in a broad spectrum of underwater missions.
Participation in European PESCO and EDIDP/EDF projects represents one of GMV’s strategic lines of operation in the area of security and defense in its international activity and consolidation of critical areas for the company, which has proven to be an essential aspect for allowing its proposals to be selected. In total GMV is taking part in 27 projects, two of them as leader, a result that puts the company in the top positions in terms of participation in this program.
Together with our activity in other sectors, the defense and security area are a major growth vector for GMV, bringing with it an increase in revenue and also in hiring. In the last five years, GMV has seen a 50% increase in staff and now has a workforce of over 3,000 professionals. This figure is expected to increase with the completion of these new projects under the EDF program.
