The future use of flying drones and unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in military cross-domain logistics was the focus of the first “European Defence Innovation Operational Experimentation” (OPEX) campaign. Under the direction of the European Defence Agency (EDA), commercially available and near-production-ready systems were tested for their suitability in various operational scenarios – yielding valuable insights and already leading to tangible outcomes.
In 2022, the EDA established a dedicated platform to identify solutions for pressing military challenges. The goal of the “Hub for European Defence Innovation” (HEDI) has since been to structure the search for new or underutilized technologies and to initiate relevant projects. In early 2025, HEDI launched an initiative to test Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) and Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGVs) for their applicability in resupply and logistics missions – not just in theory, but especially in real-world conditions.
Over the course of several weeks, member states, industry representatives, and potential end-users were invited to jointly test, evaluate, and refine technologies at the Centro Polifunzionale di Sperimentazione dell'Esercito (CEPOLISPE), a testing and proving ground of the Italian Army near Rome. Prior to this, a panel of 90 experts from 14 EU member states, as well as Switzerland and Ukraine, had developed 130 distinct test scenarios to assess the use of unmanned systems for tasks such as delivering ammunition to troops or evacuating wounded soldiers.
To evaluate a broad range of systems for their military applicability, three different drone platforms were selected from Beyond Vision (Portugal), Altus LSA (Greece), and Schiebel (Austria). For UGVs, systems from Alisys Robotics (Spain), PIAP (Poland), and ARX Robotics (Germany) were chosen. The idea was to have platforms with varying specifications – such as propulsion systems or payload capacities – perform the same missions. This approach aimed to identify which solutions would ultimately be the most effective under the specific conditions of military operations. After all, a system that appears optimal from an efficiency standpoint might look quite different when assessed from a tactical perspective.
While the unmanned aerial systems were largely operated by manufacturer personnel during the missions, the ground vehicles could be controlled by participating soldiers after only brief instruction. This provided direct user feedback, which in one case was implemented immediately: the UGVs now being delivered by that manufacturer to Ukraine have already been improved based on the lessons learned during the OPEX campaign.
> This article was created in cooperation with Drones – The Drone Economy Magazine. www.drones-magazin.de
