As part of the Safran-led consortium, GMV took part in the ACHILE kick-off meeting on 6 and 7 September.

ACHILE (Augmentd Capability for HIgh end soLdiErs) was one of the projects selected under the first call for proposals of the European Defence Fund (EDF) program, which aims to strengthen the competitiveness of the EU defense industry and thus contribute to its strategic autonomy.

The ACHILE project aims to develop innovative solutions for the next generation of combatants, to demonstrate the benefits of the open architecture known as GOSSRA (Generic Open Soldier System Reference Architecture), and to harness disruptive technologies to improve soldiers’ survivability, sustainability, mobility, lethality, and surveillance capabilities. The project will work holistically along four lines to achieve these goals: core soldier capabilities, augmented capabilities, core capabilities for interoperability with equipment, and augmented capabilities for interoperability with other systems or platforms.

GMV is contributing to most of the defined work packages, lending its expertise in combatant system architecture, robotic interactions, navigation, and command and control software. It is also leading the tasks focused on C4I equipment and will contribute to the design and improvement of the combatant system’s navigation capabilities, robotic integration, collaborative capabilities for the battlefield management system (BMS), and multinational intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) interoperability. GMV will also help to align the future soldier architecture with STANREC 4845 and to upgrade the GOSSRA architecture.

In addition to ACHILE, in the first call of the EDF 21 program, which led to the results published in July 2022, GMV was selected as a beneficiary company by the European Commission on seven projects, with two of these specifically involving its subsidiary in Portugal.