Leonardo today signed the financing agreement for OCEAN2020, the most important project related to the tender for the European Defense Fund on Technologies for Maritime Safety, funded by the European Union and implemented by the European Defense Agency (EDA) ). The latter will act as a contracting authority, as part of the "Preparatory Action on Defense Research" program.
The signature took place at the European Commission in the presence of the European Commissioner for Industry and Entrepreneurship, Elzbieta Bienkowska, and Leonardo's Managing Director, Alessandro Profumo.
The project - which has a total value of about 35 million euros - will be led by Leonardo as coordinator of a consortium made up of 42 partners of 15 EU countries.
"OCEAN2020 will make it possible to promote technological research in a sector of great interest, such as maritime safety, of great relevance for Europe and for the Mediterranean area in particular", declared Alessandro Profumo, Leonardo's Managing Director. "Our team has established itself in a competitive procedure thanks to a technologically innovative proposal of great strategic value, result of an intense and effective collaboration among all the 42 partners of the consortium, that I would like to thank for the important contribution".
Leonardo, as part of the same "Preparatory Action on Defense Research", was also selected for the GOSSRA project, coordinated by Rheinmetall, which aims to standardize soldiers' equipment and equipment in order to improve interoperability during joint operations conducted by the forces of EU countries.
Today's signature is a further confirmation of Leonardo's significant role in European security and defense initiatives. The company firmly supports the Commission's proposal to provide the European Defense Fund with a budget of 1,5 billion euros a year starting from the 2021. Of this amount, around 1 billion a year will be dedicated to supporting defense capabilities and common capacity building between EU countries.
An amount equal to 500 million will instead be allocated to research activities, essential for the growth and competitiveness of the European defense industry.
