Bianor’s Expertise Plays Crucial Role in an Innovative EDIDP Project for Increasing the Military Divers’ Safety

SOFIA, Bulgaria, Sept. 28, 2021 – The Bulgarian custom software developer and defense industry contractor Bianor has become part of an innovation project financed by the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP).

Increasing military divers’ safety

The comprehensive enterprise aims at increasing military divers’ safety. The project “Enhanced defence diving solutions to detect, identify counter and protect against sub-surface threats” is addressed by the Comprehensive Underwater Intervention Information System (CUIIS) proposal. The European Commission grants € 5.7 million to the consortium, led by the Bulgarian Defense Institute.

Fostering  innovation capacity within the EU

The consortium includes 18 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and institutions from Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, and Romania. Financed by the EDIDP and managed by the EC, the project is part of the common EU strategy for fostering competitiveness, efficiency, and innovation capacity within the Union by facilitating collaboration among defense industrial players.

Innovative underwater technologies

CUIIS focuses on underwater technologies for the physical support and recovery of divers by building a command, control, communications, and information (C4I) mission system for aquatic management, underwater monitoring, situational awareness, positioning, navigation, and manned-unmanned teaming.

Bianor’s responsibility in the referred project covers the CUIIS System design. The software developer will take part in other activities, such as the CUIIS elements prototyping. Among the partners in the international consortium are diving technology innovators like Drass (Italy), Multi Safety Support System (France), Real Time Systems (France), TECHPLUS (France), and UWIS (Finland).

History of defense industry ventures

Bianor’s involvement in the project is not a surprise. The company already has a successful history with a couple of other defense ventures. Partnering with the world’s defense industry leaders like Northrop Grumman and Leonardo at the NATO’s Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) program opened the door for other large-scale multinational defense projects. Earlier this year, the EDIDP approved the European Strategic Command and Control (ESC2) System project, where Bianor is a member of the consortium led by the Spanish technology leader Indra.

Bianor is among the very few Bulgarian IT companies working on Defense Industry projects. In this year’s EDIDP contracts, TechnoLogica and Bianor are the only Bulgarian software development companies. The acquired technical expertise and the particular defense projects management skillset make Bianor a trusted partner by world industry leaders.