Start-up speed for EloKa high-tech

SPECTRA Challenge selects winning teams for the protection of unmanned systems

Conclusion of the SPECTRA Challenge in Erding: The winning teams of the practical and moonshot tracks and representatives of the three cooperating innovation units celebrate together on stage.

The SPECTRA Challenge has been decided: The winning teams in the practical track and the moonshot track were awarded prizes at the test field in Erding on December 4, 2025. In a joint innovation format organized by the Agentur für Innovation in der Cybersicherheit GmbH (Cyberagentur), Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub (CIHBw) and Innovation Lab System Soldat (InnoLabSysSdt), start-ups, companies and research teams demonstrated under real conditions how unmanned systems can become more robust against attacks in the electromagnetic spectrum. The challenge showed how high implementation speed and close cooperation between innovation units and users enable new solutions for electronic warfare (EloKa).

Final on the test field: two winners, one common aim

In the practical track, ESPARGOS came out on top ahead of Raydiant RF and DREMIAN. In the visionary moonshot track, Clausthal University of Technology won ahead of FATAL Industries and ACTRANS GmbH. Both teams impressed the jury with their technologically sophisticated approaches to protecting unmanned systems in an electromagnetically contested environment.

The award-winning solutions are the result of a multi-stage competition: 46 qualified submissions from science, business and the start-up scene were received in the first phase – with participants from a total of 17 countries and contributions in a practical and a visionary track.

“SPECTRA is a strategic tool for identifying innovative and disruptive approaches in a short space of time. The format brings together users, start-ups, industry and research in a structured way and generates solutions that are directly geared towards real, application-relevant needs,” says Dr. Christoph Hof, Head of the Cyberagentur’s Dresden Project Office.

From idea to field test in just a few months

The SPECTRA Challenge was designed as a joint instrument of the three innovation units: The Cyberagentur sets the strategic framework and the research agenda, the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub brings in user perspectives from the troops and start-up experience, and the System Soldat innovation laboratory from the newly established Bundeswehr Innovation Center provides realistic test conditions and operational proximity.

There were only a few months between the concept launch, pitch days, practice week and final. This “start-up-typical speed” illustrates that innovation competitions in cooperation with the Cyberagentur, CIHBw and InnoLabSysSdt enable a significantly accelerated implementation of ideas in experimental prototypes – right through to operational scenarios of the EloKa.

A particular attraction for start-ups and young companies: They could not only present their own developments in theory, but also demonstrate their capabilities on a real test field in a “contested environment” – interacting with jammers, sensors and effector technologies. In addition, there was the chance to win the prize money for both tracks as well as the direct exchange with operators and users from the defense industry.

Highly attractive for start-ups and research teams

The large number of qualified submissions and the international composition of the teams showed that securing unmanned systems against jamming, spoofing and other electronic attack patterns is recognized as a central field of future cyber security.

“SPECTRA exemplifies our approach: open to technology, open to experimentation, realistic. No PowerPoint showcases – we want solutions that prove themselves in the field,” says Dr. Christoph Hof. “Above all, we wanted to gain insights, because the challenge serves as a radar for us to identify new technologies, new talents and new approaches at an early stage.”

The challenge aimed to fund concepts and technologies that make unmanned systems more resilient and ensure their operational capability even in complex electromagnetic threat situations – from prototypes that can be realized in the short term to medium-term technology approaches in the moonshot track.

Three innovation units – a bridge to practice

In addition to Dr. Christoph Hof from the Cyberagentur, the SPECTRA Challenge jury also included other representatives of the three cooperation partners and another external member.

From the perspective of the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub, SPECTRA underlines the importance of fast, radically application-oriented innovation paths in close cooperation with the troops: “SPECTRA shows how quickly we can generate innovations for the troops if the existing innovation units work together with start-ups and users along their technology readiness level right from the start. This format forces us all to step out of our comfort zone – and that’s exactly what the Bundeswehr needs in order to achieve technological superiority,” says Sven Weizenegger, Head of the Bundeswehr Cyber Innovation Hub.

“For us, SPECTRA is a prime example of radically application-oriented innovation: not a theory room, but a testing ground where ideas are evaluated in hours rather than months. We will use this speed even more consistently in future,” adds Sven Weizenegger.

For the System Soldat innovation laboratory, represented by General Michael Bender, Head of the Bundeswehr’s Innovation Centre, the focus is on proximity to operational reality: “What sets SPECTRA apart is its direct proximity to operational reality. We don’t see concepts here, but solutions that have to hold their own in the electromagnetically contested environment. This practical orientation makes the challenge operationally valuable for us. At the same time, the importance lies in the fact that we can keep an eye on technological developments.”

“The teams worked under conditions that come very close to our real scenarios. As a result, we now know which approaches in electronic warfare really have potential – and which do not. This is exactly what formats like SPECTRA are needed for,” says Bender on the importance of realistic test environments and the further exploitation of the results.

The fourth jury member, retired Colonel Sönke Marahrens from ZDigBW, classifies SPECTRA as a blueprint for defense technology innovation formats that bring research, industry and start-ups together at an early stage: “SPECTRA sends a strong signal: we don’t just want to assess technologies, we want to experience them under real conditions. This challenge closes the gap between research requirements and operational suitability – and does so with remarkable speed. We have identified a gap in the ELOKA and the challenge is really helping us here.”

“Many innovation competitions remain abstract. SPECTRA, on the other hand, creates an environment in which disruptive approaches become immediately visible. What is tested here could be a building block of national cyber security tomorrow,” says retired Colonel Sönke Marahrens, explaining the role of challenges as an instrument for accelerated technology testing.

Outlook: Results flow into research, procurement and troops

The findings from the demonstrations in Erding will now be incorporated into the further research agenda of the three cooperation partners. Based on the solutions demonstrated in the final, they are examining the areas in which further research questions could be investigated and therefore follow-up projects would make sense.

SPECTRA is thus making a concrete contribution to Germany actively shaping technological innovation in the field of security and defense policy – transparently, competitively and with a strong European partner network.