Brussels, 4 December 2025
A European consortium uniting leading defence, telecommunications and research organisations from across the continent has launched 5G COMPAD 2.0 – 5G Communications for Peacekeeping and Defence 2.0, a new project funded under the European Defence Fund (EDF) 2024 call “Development actions on information superiority”. With a total budget of €38 million, including €25 million in EU co-funding, the three-year project will develop the next generation of defence multi-dimensional communication standards for European armed forces.
Building on the achievements of the first EDF project 5G COMPAD, which designed, prototyped and tested a reference architecture for robust, resilient 5G-based defence communications and demonstrated its operational relevance in large-scale trials, 5G COMPAD 2.0 will turn these results into a more mature, deployable capability for coalition operations.
The project officially kicked off with a three-day meeting from 2 to 4 December 2025 in Brussels, bringing together consortium partners representatives of European Commission and representatives of Ministries of Defense of the states involved with project to align operational requirements, technical work streams and demonstration plans for the coming 36 months.
“With 5G COMPAD 2.0 we are taking the decisive next step – transforming cutting-edge research into interoperable, field-ready communications capabilities that will support European missions on land, at sea, in the air and in space,” said project lead, representative of Saab, the project’s coordinating company.
5G COMPAD 2.0 aims to deliver advanced capabilities such as networks as a sensor, precise positioning services, automatic network setup, non-terrestrial networks and dynamic spectrum sharing, building on both civil 5G and dedicated military communication technologies.
These capabilities will help ensure that military users can benefit from high-performance, secure and resilient connectivity in demanding environments – from peacekeeping and crisis-management operations to high-intensity collective defence scenarios. The project will also strengthen cyber and information security in line with the evolving threat landscape.
The overall objective of 5G COMPAD 2.0 is to enable EU Member States to procure and evolve coalition communication capabilities that can seamlessly interoperate with complementary civil communication networks and devices. This will increase the independence and security of supply of the EU’s defence industrial and technological base, while ensuring that European armed forces can rely on trusted, European-controlled technologies for mission-critical communications.
By defining and prototyping a defence multi-dimensional communication standard, the project will improve interoperability and integration in a multi-domain operational environment, ensuring that future systems can connect securely across services, platforms and national borders.
The 5G COMPAD 2.0 consortium brings together 18 partners from 11 European countries (Austria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Spain, Sweden and Norway), spanning large industry, SMEs and leading research and technology organisations.
Consortium members and countries of establishment:
SAAB AKTIEBOLAG (Coordinator) – Sweden
AIT AUSTRIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY GMBH – Austria
BITTIUM WIRELESS OY – Finland
CAFA TECH OU – Estonia
EIGHT BELLS HELLAS I.K.E. – Greece
ERICSSON AB – Sweden
INTRACOM DEFENSE AE – Greece
KONGSBERG DEFENCE & AEROSPACE AS – Norway
LATVIJAS MOBILAIS TELEFONS SIA (LMT) – Latvia
LEONARDO – SOCIETA PER AZIONI – Italy
NOKIA NETWORKS FRANCE – France
RHEINMETALL ELECTRONICS GMBH – Germany
SINTEF AS – Norway
SPACE HELLAS ANONYMI ETAIREIA SYSTIMATA KAI YPIRESIES TILEPIKOINONIONPLIROFORIKIS ASFALEIAS – IDIOTIKI EPICHEIRISI PAROCHIS YPERISION ASFA – Greece
SYNKZONE AB – Sweden
TELEFÓNICA INGENIERÍA DE SEGURIDAD – Spain
TELENOR ASA – Norway
THALES SIX GTS FRANCE SAS – France
The consortium combines deep expertise in 5G and next-generation communications, defence systems integration, cyber security, positioning and sensing, and large-scale system-of-systems demonstrations.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Project: 101218568 — 5G COMPAD 2.0 — EDF-2024-DA
©2026 All rights reserved 5G Compad | Cookie Policy | Privacy Policy