BraveTech EU DefTech Forges: From Innovation to Operational Readiness
The BraveTech EU DefTech Forges provide European defence innovators with a unique platform to move beyond ideation. During the events, teams were exposed to operational perspectives, integration constraints, and battlefield-relevant technical feedback, testing their solutions against real-world conditions rather than just lab environments. This approach ensures that innovations are combat-ready and aligned with operational needs.
Six Solutions Awarded for Phase II Operational Experimentation
Six teams were recognized for addressing key operational gaps across ground mobility, air defence, counter-drone systems, autonomy in denied environments, and resilient connectivity:
- EdgeX Robotics (Poland): modular unmanned ground vehicle platform
- RANNON (Latvia): SADURS reusable anti-drone rocket system
- Tempterno Defence (Estonia): multilayer AI-enabled counter-UAS system
- Kova Labs (Finland): autonomous, unjammable unmanned system for dense forests
- Soraccel (France): autonomous drone swarms for GNSS-denied environments
- SMÆSH (Germany): low-cost, self-healing tactical connectivity mesh
Each winning team will proceed to Phase II: Operational Experimentation with the European Defence Agency (EDA), receiving a €120,000 award and further mentoring to evaluate their solutions under realistic operational conditions. The Forges are powered by the European Commission, developed with BRAVE1 and EDA, and implemented by Civitta, Starburst, and Darkstar.
