URGENT PARTNER SEARCH! A Latvian SME is urgently looking for European partners for a European Defence Fund (EDF) development project focused on secure defence data exchange and command-and-control interoperability.

A Latvian software SME is seeking independent European SME partners to join a European Defence Fund development project. The project will develop, integrate and validate a secure and resilient defence data exchange and management platform for military command, control and information environments, including degraded-connectivity conditions. Expertise is sought in cybersecurity, interoperability, distributed systems, system integration, testing and validation.

VITA-DDS aims to develop a secure and resilient defence data exchange and management platform for military command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C3I/C4I) environments. It will enable controlled, auditable and resilient information exchange between heterogeneous command-and-control, intelligence, analytical, AI-enabled and other defence information systems. The project builds on an existing civilian/dual-use technological base that will be further developed specifically for defence use. Planned capabilities include fine-grained Need-to-Know/Mission-Need access control, Zero Trust-based identity and trust management, distributed/federated data management, resilient and resumable synchronisation in disconnected, intermittent and limited-bandwidth (DIL) environments, auditable data usage, secure integration with AI and analytical systems, and interoperability in national and multinational C3I/C4I environments. The Latvian SME intends to coordinate the project and contribute the core data management and exchange architecture, software development and overall technical integration. International cooperation is sought to combine complementary technical capabilities from independent SMEs established in different eligible EDF countries. The selected partners will participate as consortium beneficiaries, take responsibility for defined technical tasks or work packages, integrate their technologies or expertise with the core platform, and jointly contribute to system integration, testing and validation. The consortium is currently being completed. Due to the European Commission submission deadline of 29 September 2026, immediate expressions of interest are requested. Project-specific foreground IP and access rights will be defined in the consortium agreement.

The selected SME will participate as a full consortium beneficiary and take responsibility for a clearly defined technical task or work package. Depending on the partner's capabilities, its contribution may include integration of a cybersecurity, identity-management, interoperability or distributed-system component, system integration, testing, validation or demonstration. The partner will contribute to technical development and provide the organisational and technical information required for preparation of the EDF proposal. Previous experience in EDF, Horizon Europe or other European defence/security programmes, cooperation with Ministries of Defence or Armed Forces, and access to relevant defence testing environments would be particularly valuable. Due to the short submission timeline, the partner should be able to make a rapid participation decision and, where required for the proposed project activities, promptly engage with its national Ministry of Defence or other competent defence authority regarding the necessary EDF Member State support documentation.