During a two-day session at the DIEHL facilities, the HYDEF Programme has met the first technical milestone (MCM) and the second management milestone (PRM1). The European Hypersonic Defence Interceptor” (EU HYDEF) is a project co-funded by the European Union, under the European Defence Fund, and Belgium, Germany, Norway, Poland and Spain. OCCAR has been entrusted the management of the EU HYDEF project by the European Commission (EC) and the Participating States.
The Mission Concept Milestone (MCM) is part of the Pre-Feasibility Phase and the technical objective is to agree on the mission statement and the Concept of Operations (CONOPS). During the MCM, the consortium has consolidated the requirements collection, initial concept ideas, and system options while providing a rough performance estimation to the users. The first version of the CONOPS has been approved. The activities associated to pre-feasibility are the type of study. The concept study is fundamental in the initial information of threats, mission, and user requirements with a concept of operations.
The MCM had two associated Core Stakeholders Workshops, for early collection and allocation of inputs and requirements to the different areas of activities involved in the project. The Progress Review Meeting 1 (PRM 1) was held between the Project Coordinator (SMS) and HYDEF Programme Division. The HYDEF Consortium presented to HYDEF PD the general status of the programme covering progress, KPIs, schedule review, risks, financial and other aspects. Both milestones were successfully overcome six and five days in advance of the deadline, respectively.
The HYDEF (HYpersonic DEFence) Interceptor Programme was launched in response to the 2021 European Defence Fund (EDF) call on the topic “Endo-atmospheric Interceptor” in the category “Protection against High Velocity Aerial Threats”. HYDEF is closely linked to the PESCO EU programme «Timely Warning and Interception with Space based TheatER surveillance» (TWISTER) and deals with the development of an overall endo atmospheric interceptor concept for air defence. This programme is funded with a total amount of €110 million, of which €100 million are co-funded by the EU European Defence Fund (EDF) and the other €10 million are funded by the five Participating States: Belgium, Germany, Norway, Poland and Spain.
