Italy's state-owned aerospace and defense company, Leonardo, has been tasked by the Ministry of Defence to spearhead the development of Europe's first military space cloud architecture project.
Known as MILSCA, this initiative aims to revolutionize Italy's governmental and armed forces' capabilities by providing them with a cutting-edge system incorporating high-performance computing, cloud services, and artificial intelligence (AI) directly from space.
Over the next two years, Leonardo will collaborate with Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space, two joint ventures involving the Italian defense and aerospace group and France's Thales, to bring MILSCA to fruition.
This project aligns with Leonardo's strategic objectives, which include a focus on the space industry as a crucial component for future defense and security needs. The company aims to establish interconnected, digitally advanced platforms to complement its existing product offerings.
“MILSCA will guarantee users access to strategic data such as communications, earth observation, and navigation data, anywhere and at any time,” said Leonardo's Chief Innovation Officer Simone Ungaro. “In a multi-domain scenario, management, security, and rapid exchange of an ever-increasing amount of data, much of which is tactical, become strategic elements for the country's defense. We will be the first in Europe to develop a Space Cloud project…,” he added, emphasizing the strategic importance of this endeavor for Italy's defense capabilities.