On 10 and 11 April 2018 the official kick-off meeting of the OCEAN 2020 project was held in the European Defence Agency (EDA) offices in Belgium. This marks the start of the most important project to date within the PADR program (Preparatory Action on Defence Research).

Photo: EDA 

OCEAN 2020, formalized in late March, is brokered by the European Union’s new European Defence Fund, set up to create a solider defense structure in Europe. The project’s remit is to develop groundbreaking solutions for autonomous maritime surveillance systems and interdiction missions in the interests of maritime safety, integrated into naval command-and-control centers.

The project will be run by a 42-partner consortium: 5 government authorities such as Spain’s MoD or Lithuania’s navy, plus 7 research organizations and 30 private companies.

As a member of the consortium GMV will be working on solutions for command and control systems, plus surveillance and reconnaissance. Its contribution stretches to the creation of the Brussels-based European Maritime Operations Center as part of the OCEAN 2020 project itself.