The programme has been selected for funding as part of the second round of EDF calls

The Rheinmetall-led Federated Ecosystem of European Simulation Assets for Training and Decision Support (FEDERATES) consortium has been backed by €30 million in EU funding to implement a prototype distributed synthetic simulation training solution.

The programme has been selected for funding as part of the second round of calls for proposals under the European Defence Fund and 40 other joint defence research and development projects. According to the EU, the project is expected to last 36 months.

The prototype to be developed aims to integrate and jointly use member states’ existing simulators, training systems and advanced technologies like AI, cloud technologies and virtual reality in simulated environments for ground, sea, air, space and cyberspace operations.

The objective is to enable joint utilisation of the EU member states’ resources in a networked digital ecosystem, similar to NATO’s Modelling and Simulation as a Service (MSaaS) architecture.

Besides Rheinmetall, the consortium includes 31 other companies and entities from 14 EU member states plus Norway, ranging from large corporations to SMEs, research institutes and universities.

Rheinmetall Electronics will coordinate a core team consisting of Thales, Leonardo, Indra Sistemas and HM EI, MBDA Italia, Naval Group and Airbus Defence and Space are other participating companies.

FEDERATES will support the joint procurement and bundling of simulation resources and the formation of a new marketplace for corresponding services. The expected results include improved availability, shorter construction times, lower costs, greater access to training and faster development of future solutions.