ARMAMENTS

The second OCEAN 2020 (Open Cooperation for European mAritime awareNess) demonstration is commencing in the Baltic Sea at the end of August. Leonardo is the coordinator in this important European funded research defence programme for maritime surveillance.

Leonardo technologies will include its SW-4 SOLO remotely piloted helicopter, the Osprey 30 radar and the naval Combat Management System (CMS). These systems all improve maritime operators’ situational awareness and decision-making capabilities.

The demo, which will be coordinated by Swedish Saab, will focus upon how naval forces can detect and identify high-speed surface threats and unknown submerged activity. OCEAN 2020 is the largest European funded defence research project for maritime surveillance and sees Leonardo coordinating a team of 43 partners from 15 countries. 

The Baltic Sea demo will involve 13 unmanned systems, four naval units – a Swedish Support Ship, Lithuanian Patrol Vessel, Polish Mine Hunter and a German Research Vessel – a satellite and two command centres.

During the demonstration, the unmanned systems will patrol and classify threats using a range of onboard sensors. One scenario will focus on the surveillance, interdiction and engagement of multiple surface threats, while a second will concern the identification of underwater threats and the detection of enemy special forces in friendly coastal areas.

Building on the first successful OCEAN 2020 demonstration, which took place in 2019 in the Gulf of Taranto, Italy, Leonardo’s participation in the second exercise will involve a number of innovative technologies including its remotely piloted SW-4 SOLO helicopter equipped with Leonardo’s Osprey 30 active electronically scanned array (AESA) surveillance radar. The same radar will also be on-board Safran’s Patroller drone during the exercise. 

Further, the Lithuanian Navy’s P11 Žemaitis patrol ship will be equipped with Leonardo’s Combat Management System (CMS), enabling interoperability with the SW-4 SOLO by integrating and coordinating the information coming from the drone with the ship’s onboard sensors and systems in real time. This advanced technology provides operators with a full situational-awareness picture and the ability to react quickly to developments. 

Finally, Leonardo will provide earth observation services via the SEonSE (Smart Eyes on the SEas) platform from the joint venture e-GEOS (Asi 20% – Telespazio 80%), drawing on the capabilities of the Cosmo-SkyMed satellite.

The aim of OCEAN 2020 is to demonstrate the benefits of a “system of systems” to European naval forces. An open, interoperable architecture will integrate data from multiple different platforms and feed it into a European operations centre, a prototype of which will be built in Brussels. The overall system will improve naval forces’ situational awareness and their ability to plan and manage operations in real time.

OCEAN 2020 is funded by the European Union (EU Preparatory Action on Defence Research) through grant n. 801697 and implemented by the European Defence Agency (EDA). It is the largest project under the European Defence Fund’s initiative to boost pan-European defence. 

Leonardo leads a team of 43 partners from 15 countries, comprising industry, research organisations and Ministries of Defence, from Italy, Germany, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Lithuania.

On behalf of Greece, IDE, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Altus participate in the project.

With information from Leonardo S.p.A

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