On 10th of May Mr. Zdzisław Wiater, Business Development Manager at BPTI, participated in the Security Mission Information & Innovation Group brokerage event organized by the ERATO working Group Security and Defence Research, the SEREN network, EOS, IMG-S, ECSO and Crisis Management Innovation Network Europe.

“Convoy Operations with Manned-unManneD Systems” (COMMANDS), a European Defence Fund 2021 project, aims to provide a solution to face most of the challenges in the use of unmanned ground systems (UGS) in combination (swarming) with manned military vehicles and air systems.

The Russian Ministry of Defence, on 18 March 2022, reported that Russian forces had used Kinzhal hypersonic missiles and destroyed an underground depot for missiles and aviation ammunition in the village of Delyatina in Western Ukraine. US officials also confirmed the use of hypersonic missiles. According to US officials, the launch aimed to test weapons and send a message to the West about Russia's military capabilities. This article discusses available Russian hypersonic missiles and reviews other Russian military capabilities used in military operations in Ukraine that potentially use emerging disruptive technologies.

SMEs in the Baltic member states performed well in the €1.2 billion first round of European Defence Fund (EDF) awards announced in July this year and are taking part in 19 of a total of 61 projects.

The new Hub for EU Defence Innovation – how can small countries like Lithuania make the most out of it? Donatas Palavenis, a junior researcher at the Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology (BPTI), takes a look.

Eastern and Western perceptions of military affairs surface in the region of South Caucasus, a historic crossroad of multiple cultures and worrying parties and erupted into a full-scale war between Ar- menia and Azerbaijan in the fall of 2020 over a region called Nagorno-Karabakh, the mountainous enclave between two countries for which both nations main- tain their cultural, national, and strategic claims.

Today the European Commission announced plans to support 61 collaborative defence research and development projects selected following the first ever calls for proposals under the European Defence Fund (EDF). We are happy to share that BPTI will take part in 8 of these projects.

On June 21, 2022, the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania together with Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology hosted a General Assembly of the international CYBER4DE project. The members of the consortium met in Vilnius to discuss the progress of the project, set next priorities, and assess the potential risks.

Launched under European Defence Industrial Development Programme in December 2021, the project “Cyber Rapid Response Toolbox for Defence Use” (CYBER4DE) takes on the challenge to develop an easily deployable, modular, and scalable cyber rapid response toolbox to manage cyber incidents in different complex national and international scenarios. The project also aims to enhance processes and practices of Cyber Rapid Response Teams (CRRTs) under the PESCO framework for a faster uptake of the new tools and for increased effectiveness in the operating domain.

We are ready to support our fellow researchers from Ukraine during this difficult time and invite them to join BPTI in Lithuania.

On 17 March 2022, Alfonsas Juršėnas from the Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology presented the CARMENTA project at the international Air Power conference hosted by the Lithuanian Air Forces in Kaunas, Lithuania.

A decade ago, Russia was lagging significantly behind in unmanned platforms, if compared to the USA, China, and even Israel, but now it is catching up.

Launched under European Defence Industrial Development programme in December 2021, the project CARMENTA “Future European Self Protection System for Fixed Wing and Rotary Wing airborne platforms” will design a next generation self-protection system (SPS) for aerial platforms able to face a wide and heterogeneous spectrum of current and evolving threats in the operational area.

Recent publication prepared by BPTI researchers for NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence tackles the role of AI in the battle against disinformation.

CROWN project, launched in July 2021 under the EU Preparatory Action on Defence Research
(PADR) program, will address research and technological development activities to go a step
further in the development of European next-generation multifunction radiofrequency (RF)
system mainly for airborne surveillance platforms based on Active Electronically Scanned
Arrays (AESA) technology capable of integrating radar, electronic defence and communications
functions into a single compact and lightweight item of equipment.

On Friday, October 15, BPTI joined successful online demonstration of Prevision use case “Detection of fraudulent companies” led by Financial Crime Investigation Service (FNTT, Lithuania).

In the face of growing efforts by China to dominate the field the Baltic states could be valuable partners in the assurance and development of secure 5G technology and networks.

On August 25-26, the Combat Divers Service of Lithuanian Special Operations Forces and the Lithuanian Navy Patrol Ship P11 "Žemaitis" participated in the two-day OCEAN2020 demonstration in the Baltic Sea, Hanö Bight in Southern Sweden. Live trial was conducted to demonstrate enhanced situational awareness in a maritime environment through the integration of new technologies for unmanned systems. The Patrol Ship P11 "Žemaitis" equipped with Combat Management System (CMS) had integrated console of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) Ground Control Station and ad-hoc communication systems developed by project partner "Leonardo" (Italy). The Baltic Institute of Advanced Technology (BPTI) was responsible for equipment integration.

On 2-4 August 2021, a field test of new tools enhancing the quality and efficiency of identity verification at border crossings was conducted at one of the Lithuanian land border control points. A new generation of tools for border guards based on artificial intelligence, blockchain and other technologies has been developed by consortium partners from eleven European countries. Lithuania is represented in the project by the Baltic Institute of Advanced Technologies (BPTI) and the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) under the Ministry of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania.

On June 21, 2021 nineteen project partners from eleven European countries (i.e. Germany, Netherlands, Greece, Sweden, Spain, Italy, France, Denmark, Lithuania, Romania, Poland) got together virtually to launch the INTERACT ( INTERoperability Standards for Unmanned Armed ForCes SysTems) project and outline the actions to be carried out per work package during the upcoming period. The INTERACT project is funded under the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR) with 24 months of lifecycle and it is led by the Fraunhofer Institut für Optronik, Systemtechnik und Bildauswertung IOSB (Germany).