Leads Nine-Nation Consortium

Rheinmetall Defence announced on 19 February it has won a contract from the European Commission to conduct preliminary studies relating to the European Defence Union’s Generic Open Soldier Systems Reference Architecture (GOSSRA). The company is leading a consortium of partners from nine EU member states in pursuing this development, having overcome multiple competitors.

The project is an important step in improving interoperability for joint operations conducted by forces from EU member states. In order to take on this task, Rheinmetall has assembled a consortium consisting of Europe’s most important soldier systems companies: Indra and GMV Aerospace and Defence (Spain); Leonardo and Larimart (Italy); the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO); iTTi Sp. Z.o.o. (Poland); Tekever ASDS Lda. (Portugal) and SAAB AB (Sweden), among them.

The project will focus on studies into developing an open reference architecture as the basis of EU-wide standardised soldier systems. This includes electronics, voice and data communication, software solutions, man-machine interfaces, sensors and effectors. As the developer of the Bundeswehr’s IdZ-ES soldier system, the Canadian military’s ARGUS system and the recently unveiled GLADIUS 2.0, Rheinmetall possesses cutting edge expertise in this domain.

“We are very pleased that our proposal has met with success in this early phase of the formation of the European Defence Union. It gives added momentum to our strategy of expanding the Group’s EU-themed activities in Brussels in pursuit of further European Union projects aimed at strengthening Europe’s strategic autonomy with regard to security and defence policy,” the head of the Group’s recently opened Representative Office for EU and NATO Affairs in Brussels, Dr. Thomas Weise.

Tim Mahon