The Dutch Ministry of Defence has signed a strategic partnership worth tens of millions of euros with Dutch defence technology company Intelic to build the software foundation for its future unmanned systems ecosystem, making the Netherlands the first country in the world to formally invest in a Software-First approach to military interoperability.The three-year agreement marks a shift in how defence capabilities are developed. Rather than acquiring platforms first and addressing integration challenges later, the Dutch Ministry of Defence is making interoperability the starting point of its strategy.Under the partnership, Intelic will work closely with the Ministry over the next three years to develop and evolve the software architecture required to connect unmanned aerial and ground systems into a single operational ecosystem.
Central to this partnership is Intelic’s Command-and-Control software NEXUS, which enables unmanned systems from different manufacturers to operate together within a single mission environment. This greatly reduces deployment times and training for operators, and ensures that different unmanned systems work together reliably.
The rapid evolution of drone warfare and autonomous systems has exposed a growing challenge for military organisations: fragmented technologies that struggle to work together.
