The contract for the project “Unmanned semi-stationary maritime platforms for maritime surveillance” (USSPS) was signed by the admiral and Aristides Alexopoulos, director general of the Hellenic General Directorate of Defense Investments and Equipment (GDAEE), and Antonios Peppas, director general of ETME.
Launched in 2021, the Unmanned Semi-Permanent Maritime Platforms for Maritime Surveillance (USSPS) project is being developed by the European consortium led by innovative Greek company ETME and two of the EU’s largest defense manufacturers, Naval Group and Navantia. This important initiative is carried out by the European Commission within the framework of the European Defense Industrial Development Program (EDIDP), under the auspices of the Ministry of National Defense of the Hellenic Republic and the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Cyprus, with significant co-financing .
The objective is to design, develop, deploy and demonstrate a novel, unmanned, highly autonomous and energy-efficient offshore platform capable of integrating a wide range of aerial, surface and underwater sensors and UxV as part of a future enhanced network for surveillance maritime. . The project was born from the patented concept of dual-purpose floating platforms, owned by the innovative Greek company ETME.
The system is powered by Naval Group’s new C5ISTAR solution, which enables the acquisition and fusion of data, video, images and situational information from all USSPS sensors. The System will be capable of providing planning and executing command and control of all sensors, outputs and UxV of all nodes and will maintain the Common Operating Picture (COP).
With ETME, as leader of the consortium, and Grupo Naval as technical coordinator, the consortium brings together major European industrial players, as well as research centers. Their collaborative efforts have advanced the project to the prototyping phase, creating multiple opportunities for regional supply chains and strengthening the EU defense sector.
This 42-month program to study, design, prototype and test the solution is part of a long-term R&D collaboration between France and Greece and is expected to lead to significant market opportunities.
«This contract marks a historic opportunity for European SMEs. Leading defense SMEs can now demonstrate in practice that their innovative ideas can mature with the support of defense ministries and the European Commission, in collaboration with key contractors. This presents not only the present reality, but also the future direction,” said Antonios Peppas, Managing Director of ETME Engineering Solutions.
“It is a great pleasure for the Naval Group to work on innovative projects like the USSPS, which provide new capabilities for our navies. Naval Group’s objective is to continue to develop high-value technological solutions in cooperation with Greek industry and to further support the development of future Greek naval warfare capabilities through R&D projects with Greek companies, universities and research institutes in Greek technologies. tip,” said Patrick. Mauffrey, Naval Group Program Director.