The Land Tactical Collaborative Combat (LATACC) project accelerates the introduction of collaborative combat by European coalition forces

17 January 2024 – The European Commission signed a Grant Agreement to launch the LATACC project (Land Tactical Collaborative Combat) coordinated by Thales to improve the collaborative capabilities of European coalition forces.

The LATACC project brings together 34 industry players and research institutes (including core team members Thales, Rheinmetall, Leonardo, Indra, Saab, ISD and John Cockerill Defense) from 13 European countries. The project is financed by the European Commission with €49 million of funding from the European Defence Fund.

With the return of high-intensity conflict, the project aims to develop a solution that will optimise and accelerate allied decision-making and response in order to guarantee operational superiority on the battlefield.

The LATACC project aims to enable the different land combat systems being developed by each Member State (such as the Scorpion programme in France, CAMO in Belgium, DLBO in Germany, BMS-ET in Spain, FNEC in Italy, Ledningsstödsystem Mark (LSS Mark) in Sweden, MIME in Norway…) to coordinate their actions in coalition with very short response times, while interfacing with other domains (air, space, cyber) as well as civil systems (5G, etc.).

The LATACC project, coordinated by Thales, is led by a team of experts with proven experience of complex land systems, and will benefit from the partners’ strong capacity for innovation in key areas such as cloud technologies, communications, sensors, integration of complex systems, robotics, effectors, AI and system resilience in constrained environments.

Over the next three years, the consortium of the LATACC project bringing together 34 industries will analyse the requirements of European users and conduct a series of studies to identify common operational scenarios, define interoperable open architectures that are compatible with current and future standards, and develop the key technological building bricks needed to produce advanced technology demonstrators.

Trials will be conducted under realistic operational conditions and during large-scale demonstrations to confirm the tactical benefits of land collaborative combat in European coalition operations.

A possible second phase of the LATACC project could develop additional functionalities and bring to maturity the key components developed in the first phase.

This initiative will define a European framework and tactical-level collaboration services to speed up innovation, enhancing interoperability between national programs as well as cooperations such as the future European tanks project, and will help to safeguard the sovereignty of European industry in the field of collaborative combat and the key technologies required to make the concept a reality.

LATACC is a good illustration of federation of a large number of industry players (major companies and SMEs), institutional partners (research institutes, etc.) and government agencies (European defence ministries) to tackle a complex topic with ground-breaking implications and strategic importance for the European defence community.

About LATACC

The project “Land Tactical Collaborative Combat”(LATACC) will improve armed forces’collaborative capabilities from Brigade command post down to combat vehicles, dismounted soldier, and unmanned assets in high intensity conflicts. LATACC enhances legacy systems, develops new technologies and integrates them into a common European framework.

The partners are:

• THALES France (COORDINATOR), Spain, Belgium and Netherland ​
• RHEINMETALL ELECTRONICS Germany and Norway
• LEONARDO Italy
• INDRA Spain
• SAAB Sweden
• ISD Greece
• JOHN COCKERILL DEFENCE Belgium
• MILREM Estonia
• AIT Austria
• BPTI Lithuania
• TELEPLAN GLOBE Norway
• TNO Netherlands
• STAM Italy
• SENER AEROESPACIAL Spain
• CLAVISTER Sweden
• MBDA Italy
• HELSING Germany
• BLACKNED Germany
• ELETTRONICA Italy
• NEXTER France
• SAFRAN E&D France
• GREEN COMMUNICATIONS France
• TNS MARS France
• EVIDEN Bull SAS France
• LARIMART Italy

The consortium will also involve two subcontractors:

• INTRACOM DEFENCE Greece
• ZMT Poland

Image courtesy Thales