Photo: Krattworks

The European Defense Fund (EDF) and the Ministries of Defense of Estonia and Finland have awarded a $6 million investment to Project BadB, a consortium led by KrattWorks, an Estonian defense technology company. The project focuses on developing advanced navigation solutions for land and aerial vehicles that operate independently of GNSS.

Project BadB aims to address the challenges posed by rapidly evolving electronic warfare technologies, such as radio jamming and GNSS spoofing. The project seeks to ensure reliable navigation for unmanned systems operating in contested environments, enhancing their operational effectiveness in active war zones and other critical areas.

Specific objectives of the project include the development of weather-independent up-to-date satellite imagery maps for unmanned aerial and ground vehicles, a machine vision module, an image recognition system and a path planning system, based on sensor data, cross-platform data sharing and swarming.

GIM Robotics will develop GNSS-denied navigation software for land vehicles, designed to resist and detect jamming and spoofing so vehicles can navigate accurately — even when GNSS signals are unavailable. The company’s technology allows land vehicles to maintain precise navigation using alternative data sources, such as satellite imagery and sensor integration.

According to EDF, the project has gained attention among European defense and innovation leaders, who see it as solving a burning issue for the rapidly growing unmanned systems sector. The situation on the technology front has changed significantly in the past two years, as the sector faces new obstacles and opportunities each day.

“We are witnessing an unprecedented fundamental change in the character of war, and our window of opportunity to ensure that we maintain an enduring competitive advantage is closing,” said General (ret) Mark Milley.

GNSS-free navigation and geolocation also possess potential for civic use – such as in applications for critical infrastructure management, natural disaster mitigation and autonomous transportation systems.

Project BadB was selected during the EDF 2023 Calls for Proposals, with a project duration of 24 months. The EDF aims to boost cooperation between companies and research entities to enhance European defense capabilities.

For more information on Project BadB, visit the EDF Project Overview.