Second edition of the scientific forum "DRIF UAS/C-UAS Warfare"
Between November 26 and 28, 2024 the second edition of the scientific forum "DRIF2 UAS/C-UAS Warfare" was held at the Bulgarian Defense Institute, jointly organized by the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria and the Bulgarian Defense Institute "Professor Tsvetan Lazarov".
The event was officially opened by Col. Borislav Genov, Assoc. Prof. D.Sc. - Director of the Bulgarian Defense Institute, and welcome address was given by the Head of the Political Office of the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Bulgaria. A plenary session followed with keynote speeches by the CEO of TEREM Holding and the Director of the Bulgarian Defense Institute.
In the following two days, the scientific forum continued with two thematic sessions. The first one was dedicated to the "UAS/C-UAS Users", with presentations by the Allied Forces Command, the Land Forces Command, the Navy, the Air Forces Command and the Special Forces Command of the Republic of Bulgaria.
The second session was focused on the topic "UAS/C-UAS Industry" in which took part representatives of Elbit, IAI, D Solutions, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), TechnoLogica, Optix, Kontrax, Electron Progress, Globalsat, FradaX, Samel 90, Dronamics and TEREM Holding.
The forum affirmed the role of scientific research for defense needs, while at the same time giving an opportunity to discuss the defense innovation ecosystem, its development in the coming years, and the key priorities for the participation of the Republic of Bulgaria in EU and NATO initiatives. During the discussion, the Director of the Center for National Security and Defense Research at the BAS - Mr. Kamen Iliev, emphasized that it is necessary to integrate the efforts of the entire scientific
community to achieve this complex objective and proposed the organization of a forum with participation of international experts from the Directorate-General "Defence Industry and Space" (DG DEFIS) of the European Commission, the European Defence Agency (EDA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) to discuss the needs of the Ministry of Defense and the integration of the Bulgarian defense industry into the European initiatives.
