UAVs are becoming an integral part of modern warfare and provide increased situational awareness for troops and commanders on the ground.
General Dynamics European Land Systems (GDELS) has signed a Memorandum of Interest (MOI) with Danish UAV company Sky-Watch in Støvring, which allows the two companies to explore potential areas of cooperation within next-generation applications of the UAV technology in the battlefield.
"Sky-Watch is constantly striving to be at the forefront of the rapidly developing UAV technology. We offer our vast accumulated know-how within sensor fusion to our partners, in the pursuit of finding new ways to solve tomorrow’s challenges.
"We constantly rethink and redefine the value proposition, of our own as well as our partners’ ideas and concepts and I believe that we can identify some very exiting avenues of cooperation with General Dynamics European Land Systems," says Michael Messerschmidt, Sky-Watch chief business development officer.
Sky-Watch currently offers the Huginn X1 multipurpose Quadrotor UAV deployed all over the world and is currently developing the Muninn X1, a next-generation fixed-wing VTOL UAV. The future of UAVs in the battlefield will be explored by Sky-Watch Labs, the research and development arm of Sky-Watch, in cooperation with partners such as the Technical University of Denmark on a variety of projects.
With regard to the acquisition of new Armored Personnel Carriers (APC) for the Danish Army, General Dynamics European Land Systems is prepared to take its partnerships with Danish industry to the next level and explore business in adjacent markets like the one of Sky-Watch.
GDELS has signed industry cooperation agreements with 40 Danish companies of all sizes across the country and has already defined projects in excess of Dkr3.7bn, covering all of the technology areas defined in the Danish Government’s ́defence industry strategy.
GDELS international business and services senior director, responsible for industrial participation, Jens Bauer, said: "Throughout the past 20 years, GDELS Industry Cooperation programme has been one of the catalysts for the development of the Danish defence industry.
"We have executed projects of almost Dkr1.7bn with the industry, which has helped to contribute to the development of new products and technologies in a variety of companies. By engaging with an innovative and creative company such as Sky-Watch, we help plant the seed for the future of the Danish defence industry."
GDELS’s industry cooperation plan for the APC programme is based on 20 years of experience and partnership with Danish industry. The programme expands relationships beyond production and sustainment contracts to also include research and development projects, which will lay the foundation for growth in the Danish defence industry for decades to come.