SPECTRA Pitch Days: 14 teams passed with their solutions for electronic drone defense
On October 7 and 8, 2025, 44 teams from science, business and the start-up scene presented their ideas at the SPECTRA Challenge Pitch Days at Erding Air Base. Five minutes in front of the expert jury from Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur), Cyber Innovation Hub der Bundeswehr (CIHBw) and Innovationslabor System Soldat (InnoLabSysSdt) to present approaches to countering electronic threats against unmanned systems.
The Pitch Days of the SPECTRA Challenge met with great interest and offered two days of intensive exchange at the airbase in Erding. 44 teams from companies, universities and colleges, start-ups and research institutions as well as individual researchers competed to defend their ideas for protecting unmanned systems against electronic attacks.
Each team had five minutes to convince the expert jury from the Cyberagentur, CIHBw and InnoLabSysSdt. The approaches presented ranged from software-supported detection systems and innovative hardware solutions to completely new strategies for dealing with electronic interference signals.
The diverse innovations in the field of electronic warfare were intended to convince the jury as creative solutions. The breaks between the presentations provided space for intensive discussions – many participants took the opportunity to network and explore potential collaborations.
At the end of the two-day event, the jury decided on a selection of the most promising projects, which will be further developed in the coming weeks with targeted coaching.
Ten teams have been nominated for the practical track, which will develop their concepts into application-oriented prototypes:
- ESPARGOS (a TGU of TTI GmbH) (University)
- TOPseven GmbH & Co KG (Company)
- Autonomous Urban Resource Utilization System” team (university)
- STARK (Company)
- Raydiant RF GmbH (Company)
- Yurik B.V. /Dremian (Company)
In the Moonshot track, ten teams were also given the opportunity to pursue their visionary early-stage ideas:
- Fiberdome Systems GmbH (Company)
- FATAL Industries (Company)
- Clausthal University of Technology (University)
- Orbint (University)
- Soron Systems GmbH (Company)
- VisionSpace Technologies GmbH (Company)
- ACTRANS GmbH (Company)
- Wardspire | Vouwen GmbH (Company)
This means that four companies and two universities or spin-offs have qualified for the Practice Track. For the Moonshot Track, the initiators of the SPECTRA Challenge are expecting six companies and also two universities or spin-offs.
The aim is to develop the first practical solutions by the Practice Week at the beginning of December 2025. During the week, the applicability and effectiveness of the concepts will be tested under realistic conditions.
The SPECTRA Challenge was launched by the Cyberagentur, the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub and the System Soldat innovation laboratory to promote innovative solutions against electronic threats such as jamming, spoofing and signal hijacking. With 46 qualified submissions from 17 countries, the competition had already triggered a strong international response in the first phase – the Pitch Days now marked the transition to the decisive development phase.
“With the challenge, we want to prove that an interdisciplinary approach of research and practice can lead to new solutions and application maturity in the shortest possible time. We have joined forces with the Cyber Innovation Hub and the System Soldat innovation lab to achieve this. We can prove that innovation can arise unbureaucratically where civilian thinking and military practice complement each other productively”, Prof. Dr. Christian Hummert, Research Director Cyberagentur.
“Electronic warfare is no longer an abstract threat, but a reality – whether on the battlefield or in civilian airspace. Anyone using unmanned systems today must assume that their sensors and communications will be aimed at enemy interference. With initiatives such as the SPECTRA Challenge, we are creating the basis for developing concrete protection mechanisms from innovative ideas – and at the same time gaining valuable insights for the further development of our own drone defense.” Sven Weizenegger, Head of the Cyber Innovation Hub of the Bundeswehr.
Further information and registration:
https://challenge.cyberagentur.de
https://www.cyberinnovationhub.de
https://www.bundeswehr.de/de/organisation/ausruestung-baainbw/organisation/wiweb
Contacts:
Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH
Große Steinstraße 19
06108 Halle (Saale)
Michael Lindner
Press spokesman
Phone: +49 151 44150 645
E-mail: presse@cyberagentur.de
| Cyber Innovation Hub der Bundeswehr BWI GmbH (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung) Auf dem Steinbüchel 22 53340 Meckenheim Press contact: Arno Schupp Head of Communication & Events Phone: +49 151 54 019 664 Email: arno.schupp@bwi.de | Innovationslabor System Soldat Wehrwissenschaftliches Institut für Werk-und Betriebsstoffe (WIWeB) Institutsweg 1 85435 Erding Press contact: Press and Information Center AIN Phone: +49 261 400-12821 E-mail: pizain@bundeswehr.org |