Coordinated and led by Rheinmetall, the FEDERATES consortium, which stands for Federated Ecosystem of European Simulation Assets for Training and Decision Support, has been selected by the European Union for €30 million in funding. The European Commission has picked the consortium to implement a prototype service-oriented innovative solution for distributed synthetic training and decision support.
The “distributed synthetic simulation environment” draws on a multitude of different simulation resources which, though spatially separate, are linked in a common network infrastructure. The objective here is to enable joint utilization of the resources of EU member states in a networked digital ecosystem, comparable to NATO’s Modelling and Simulation as a Service (MSaaS) architecture.
For the nations of the EU, distributed simulation and training are important prerequisites for preparing and qualifying their troops as thoroughly as possible for today’s complex military operations with increasingly sophisticated systems and equipment.
The consortium intends to integrate and jointly use existing resources of member states such as simulators and training systems as well as advanced technologies like artificial intelligence, cloud technologies and virtual reality in simulated environments for ground, sea, air, space and cyberspace operations.
FEDERATES will support the joint procurement and bundling of simulation resources as well as the formation of a new marketplace for corresponding services. This will result in improved availability and shorter construction times, culminating in lower costs, greater access to training and faster development of future solutions.
Comprising 32 companies from 14 EU member states and Norway, FEDERATES stands for robust, comprehensive European cooperation. It encompasses small and medium-sized businesses as well as large corporations, research facilities and universities. FEDERATES relies on their complementary areas of expertise and experience in simulation and training systems as well as integration and cooperation with military users.
In its role as coordinator, Rheinmetall Electronics of Germany will support the FEDERATES project as part of a core team, consisting of Thales (France), Leonardo (Italy), Indra Sistemas (Spain) and HM EI (Hungary). It will foster adherence to the technical and contractual obligations between the European Commission and all participating parties.