The European defense project iMUGS ends successfully

The European defense project iMUGS, whose main objective is to increase the defensive capabilities and strategic autonomy of the European Union, ended successfully this June, according to a statement from Milrem Robotics, the leading company of the consortium.

The iMUGS consortium, led by Milrem Robotics (Estonia), and which unites a total of seven countries (France, Estonia, Finland, Spain, Germany, Latvia and Belgium), brings together a total of 13 companies, each responsible for a specific area of the project. In Spain, GMV has been responsible for coordinating the C4ISR command and control and interoperability subproject, in which a C2ISR system has been developed to manage UxVs that makes it possible to plan and carry out joint operations of manned and unmanned systems. It also allows control of the payloads installed on the platform, and use and distribution of data from the UGV’s data sensors, as a way to ensure interoperability and standardization of interfaces with C2 systems, C4I databases, and existing ISR networks.

GMV’s participation in the iMUGS project is based on the company’s acquired experience with C2 ground systems, C2 combatant systems, and joint ISR (JISR) interoperability, all of which are areas where GMV is one of the leading companies in Europe. GMV is the Spanish Ministry of Defense’s preferred supplier of command and control systems for artillery and infantry, and since 2016 it has been responsible for maintenance and evolution of the EUCCIS C2 system for the European External Action Service (EEAS).

The consortium, which started work on the iMUGS project at the end of 2020, completed all activities and operational and technical objectives in May 2023. “This project is a great example of cooperation and high-level results that we can also expect from future European Defense Fund projects. On behalf of the participating Member States, I would like to thank the Coordinator, Milrem Robotics, and all the industry partners involved for making this happen,” said Martin Jõesaar, iMUGS project officer at the Estonian Defense Investment Center.

“The completion of iMUGS is a huge milestone for all parties involved. It is also a testament that cooperation within 7 European Member States and between 13 different companies is not a simple task, but possible when working towards a worthy goal: strengthening the Union's defense capabilities”, said Kuldar Väärsi, CEO of Milrem Robotics.

Endowed with an investment of 32.6 million euros, the iMUGS project culminated in San Juan del Viso with a final event organized by GMV with the collaboration of Escribano Mechanical & Engineering and in which the deployment of unmanned systems in the field of battle, as well as its use as (swarming).

During the demonstration organized by GMV, two UGVs THeMIS manufactured by Milrem Robotics, a leading European company in robotics and autonomous systems, and modified by other companies participating in the project, including several computers, as well as the software that equips the systems, were used both at the individual level (a UGV can receive a mission and carry it out in isolation without the intervention of an operator) and at the swarm level (several UGVs can be associated as a single team that is ordered a mission and they alone self-manage to achieve the goal).