Joanna Crews
Saab has been selected to join a European Union-funded research project that seeks to demonstrate the use of unmanned systems to increase situational awareness in naval environments.
The OCEAN2020 project will include two live demonstrations slated to occur off the Italian Mediterranean coast sometime in 2019 and in the Baltic Sea during 2020, Saab said Tuesday.
Saab will collaborate with Sweden’s navy to facilitate the second demonstration event.
Katarina Bjorklund, vice president of group strategy at Saab, said the company will provide a configuration of the 9LV naval combat management system designed with interfaces for participating parties and assets such as Saab’s unmanned systems.
Bjorklund added that various assets will form a system of systems meant to generate a recognized maritime picture.
The European defense agency chose the OCEAN2020 proposal from a consortium led by Leonardo and composed of partner organizations that represent 15 EU member countries.
OCEAN2020 is part of the EU Preparatory Action on Defense Research program that seeks to test infrastructure and the capacity of industry to cooperate on the effort.
EU also plans to allocate approximately $612 million in annual funds for a planned European Defense Research Program.
