On 17-19 March 2026, the partners of the EDF CBRN SoS project gathered in Vienna. The Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear System of Systems project convened at the premises of the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT) for a three-day consortium meeting to advance European collaboration on CBRN defence capabilities.
CBRN incidents present complex challenges that often cross-national borders and require coordinated responses from multiple military units, civil protection actors and national authorities. Today, fragmented systems and limited interoperability between tools can constrain situational awareness, resource allocation and the overall effectiveness of response operations.
Funded by the European Defence Fund, the CBRN SoS project addresses this challenge by developing a federated and modular information system capable of integrating a wide range of CBRN defence technologies and data sources across EU Member States and Norway. By enabling improved information sharing, situational awareness and coordinated response, the project seeks to strengthen Europe’s capacity to anticipate, respond to and recover from complex CBRN incidents.
The meeting in Vienna marked an important step in the technical maturation of the project. Partners from across the EU worked to refine the operational framework of the system and advance the design of the federated architecture that will underpin the CBRN SoS platform.
Throughout the sessions, the consortium focused on consolidating the System Requirements baseline, ensuring alignment between operational needs and technological development. Partners also reviewed the preliminary design of the system, discussing key aspects of the architecture, interfaces and integration pathways.
In parallel, dedicated technical discussions addressed design considerations and prototyping configurations, laying the groundwork for the next phase of development.
The meeting also served as an opportunity for partners to exchange insights across work packages and strengthen coordination within the consortium, reinforcing the European collaborative approach that underpins the project. The lead nation, Austria, participated in this meeting. Following up, a separate dedicated MoD workshop was held from 23-24 March with CBRN Defence Experts participation of Austria, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden and Italy.
Through extensive discussions with Ministries of Defence (MoDs), it has been reaffirmed that a broad perspective is required—one that extends beyond data exchange between multiple partners. The emphasis is placed on the harmonised integration of relevant cross-domain data sources to generate actionable insights for decision-makers.
Coordinated by the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT), the consortium brings together partners from 12 EU Member States and associated countries, combining expertise from research organisations, industry and defence stakeholders.