Airbus consortium participates in European BroadWay project

Brussels, 09 October 2019 – An Airbus consortium has signed a pre-commercial procurement (PCP) agreement for the design phase of future pan-European mobile broadband solutions for public safety, called BroadWay. Earlier this year, the European Commission launched the Request for Tender (RFT) for the BroadWay project, in order to define next generation broadband communication systems for Public Safety and Disaster relief organisations (PPDRs) in Europe. The aim of the project funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and development programme, is to enhance interoperability across borders.

In phase 1, the consortium will produce the design for a system that would enable the pan-European mobile broadband network with cross-border capabilities. During the prototype and pilot phases, the proposed solutions will be subjected to real-world testing and evaluation by the PPDR agencies.

“Airbus, as an European leader and a long-trusted partner with 13 public safety nationwide networks in Europe, will bring its expertise in mission-critical communications to the BroadWay project,” said Olivier Koczan, Head of Secure Land Communications at Airbus Defence and Space. “Airbus is a strong supporter of such an European initiative, which will help to unite the European industry in that domain. The whole process stimulates innovation and – even more importantly – ensures that the developed solutions are a lot more than simply concepts or demonstrations.”

In total, 11 EU countries – who typically operate the Tetra or Tetrapol networks in their respective countries – will participate in the project. In addition, around 49 responder organisations, such as police, fire, and emergency medical services, in 14 countries, want to be involved in evaluating the proposed solutions; 60 additional organisations have expressed their support of the project. BroadWay covers 1.4 million of the 3.5 million responders across Europe.

Airbus

Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2018 it generated revenues of € 64 billion and employed a workforce of around 134,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as one of the world’s leading space companies. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide.

Secure Land Communications (www.securelandcommunications.com)

Secure Land Communications (SLC), an Airbus business unit, offers advanced communication and collaboration solutions to gather, process and deploy intelligence. Its portfolio is tailored to the needs of Public Safety, Defence and Transport, Utility and Industry (TUI). It includes infrastructures, devices, applications and services based on Tetra, Tetrapol and Broadband technologies (either single, hybrid or multi-technology solutions). As the European leader and a key international player, SLC has customers in more than 80 countries and employs around 1,150 people in 17 countries.

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