The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), Swedish Armed Forces, Swedish Defense Research Institute (FOI), academia, international partners and industry are working together through Demo Ucav, a demonstration project for uncrewed systems and protection against them.
Demo Ucav aims to explore and verify central technologies and capabilities, building capabilities and ensuring interoperability within the unmanned domain and between its constituent disciplines (drone, counter-drone and Patrol Robot). The project focuses on testing future technologies at an early stage. An important part of the work is to create a test platform that enables rapid experimentation and evaluation of different technical solutions – from AI-based control systems to next-generation sensor systems.
“Much of the technology development takes place in Ukraine, which has a major impact on our work,” says Johan Pakarinen, project manager at FMV. “We have a continuous dialogue with our Ukrainian partners and have a good understanding of how the systems are used and developed on the battlefield. There is a lot to learn from there.”
Initially established in 2023, Demo Ucav currently involves hundreds of employees from the FMV, the Swedish Armed Forces and FOI. FMV’s role is to coordinate, drive and ensure that the technical capability is developed in line with the needs of the Armed Forces, while the project constitutes an innovation engine for the Swedish defence industry.
Parts of the project were demonstrated during the Arctic Strike 25 exercise in Älvdalen at the end of March, and FMV reported on April 14 that trials are underway at several units in the country.
For more information
Swedish Defence Materiel Administration
Image: Swedish Armed Forces
