Answer given by Ms Bieńkowska on behalf of the European Commission

8.10.2018

Ocean 2020 is a defence research Preparatory Action project managed by a consortium led by Leonardo, which is supervised by the European Defence Agency, by delegation of the Commission.

1. Ocean 2020 does not plan to develop specific capabilities of unmanned systems. The aim is to combine different drones already developed, which are at very different stages of technological maturity and to demonstrate the added-value of combining them to develop maritime situational awareness.

2. The exact location of the demonstrations in the Mediterranean and the Baltic Sea are not decided yet. This is currently being discussed by the Ocean 2020 consortium and the different navies involved in the demonstrations.

More than 20 unmanned systems are planned to be involved in the coming demonstrations. The Commission is not in a position to disclose the details of those systems.

3. Regarding the EU MOC (European Union Maritime Operations Command), Ocean 2020 plans to develop a prototype with a demonstrator of data integration and operational facilities enabling the commander's situational awareness.

The installation is still under discussion but Ocean 2020 has offered to install this prototype in Brussels.