CATEC has consolidated its presence within the European Defence Fund (EDF) with the award of its fifth project, thereby strengthening its technological position in the defence sector.

This newly selected project is ‘TRIDENT’, focused on the development of a new-generation European system for counter-battery capabilities, based on the integration of heterogeneous sensors, data fusion, decision support using artificial intelligence, and resilient fire control against emerging threats.

Our technology centre will lead the development of navigation algorithms in denied/degraded GNSS environments and in the detection, localisation and tracking of targets in such environments through on-board processing, a field in which we have extensive experience and leadership, as recently demonstrated during the Army’s Tactical Experimentation Campaign 2026 (TEC-3).

TRIDENT, with a budget of €20 million, is a European consortium project coordinated by Thales, running for 36 months. Among other innovations, it stands out for its ability to deploy a UAV to support ground units, provide communications to ground units or detect threats, with all processing carried out on board, without the need for external components.

“We are very pleased with this new contract award because it demonstrates CATEC’s ability to adapt to a demanding and highly competitive programme in the defence market, consolidating a track record of involvement in European initiatives of high technical complexity and strong industrial cooperation, in collaboration with the main players in the European defence ecosystem. Furthermore, our participation in TRIDENT is fully aligned with our range of GNSS-denied navigation technologies and 100% national technological sovereignty,” explains Joaquín Rodríguez, CEO of CATEC.

CATEC has already been awarded four other projects in previous EDF calls for proposals:

AIDEDEX: Artificial intelligence for the detection and neutralisation of explosive devices.
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/system/files/2023-06/AIDEDex%20-%20Factsheet_EDF22_0.pdf

PASITHEA: A system of hybrid unmanned autonomous vehicles operating on land, sea and air platforms and units, opening up new horizons for military operations in the marine environment.
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/4ec0d9ca-69d0-4a9b-9203-9aef4e1a049f_en?filename=PASITHEA-Factsheet_EDF22.pdf

SABER: (Strategic Autonomous vehicles for BattlEfield Reconnaissance and logistics): An autonomous multi-agent system of aerial and ground robots that collaborate with one another, i.e. an intelligent and collaborative swarm of drones, enabling scalability and cost-effectiveness.
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/d83a2a81-0589-4042-ab80-36035a5d3e0b_en?filename=FACTSHEET_EDF_2024_LS_RA_SMERO_NT_101224105_SABER.pdf

STEALTH: Swarms of unmanned autonomous vehicles (UAVs) to enhance tactical and light autonomy in the air domain.
https://defence-industry-space.ec.europa.eu/document/download/6abd0f72-808a-4c1d-8b2e-b271abdb1db7_en?filename=EDF-2023-LS-RA-SMERO-NT%20STEALTH.pdf