Brussels/Belgium, October 1, 2025 - OCCAR participated in the event “NATO Dialogues Nr. 4” organised by Premier Cercle. Day 2 was dedicated to EU funding in defence armament programmes.
Along the presentations from Sylvia Kainz-Huber from DG DEFIS - EC, Nathalie Guichard and Baudouin Heuninckx from EDA, OCCAR HYDIS Programme Manager, Stéphanie Zirnhelt and MBDA France Head of Programme Incubator, Lionel Mazenq presented the Hypersonic Defence Interceptor System (HYDIS) Programme case study to a panel of 50 participants from small, mid-cap and large industries, representatives of the European bodies and French representation.
HYDIS PM highlighted the core role of OCCAR for the management of complex, cooperative armaments programmes, through all their life cycle, over the last 25 years.
Recently, OCCAR has been entrusted by the European Commission to manage EDF programmes such as HYDIS, following its mature, effective and agile set of management procedures.
Leaning on their experience on successful cooperation programmes in air defence such as the ASTER programme, MBDA insisted on the key driving factors, such as a unique design authority shouldering the crucial structuring choices and the repartition of the roles and tasks, without duplication, with partners in full responsibility, chosen for their competencies to the state-of-the-art level in their respective domain.
Both MBDA FR, coordinator of the HYDIS programme and HYDIS PM highlighted the importance of a balanced industrial consortium, where each beneficiary, from start-up to large industry has a vote and a vital role to play.
“The European Hypersonic Defence Interceptor System” (HYDIS) is a project co-funded by the European Union, under the European Defence Fund, and by four Participating States (PSs) which are France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. OCCAR has been entrusted by the European Commission (EC) for the indirect management of the action by the signature of a Contribution Agreement. OCCAR, as Contracting Authority, has concluded a contract with the HYDIS consortium to implement the programme, on behalf of EU and the Member States.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the European Commission can be held responsible for them.
