Europe to strengthen drone sovereignty as Intelic launches unmanned systems procurement hub

Dutch defence technology company Intelic has launched Intelic BASE, a new procurement hub designed to help Ministries of Defence across Europe identify, compare, and deploy European unmanned systems more quickly.

The platform aims to strengthen European defence sovereignty by giving governments clearer access to mission-ready drones and other unmanned technologies from across the continent.

At launch, Intelic BASE reportedly connects drone and unmanned systems manufacturers from ten European countries: France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, the Netherlands, Portugal, Latvia, Luxembourg, Lithuania, and Czechia. Named European partners include Acecore Technologies, Airvolute, Avy, Beyond Vision, DeltaQuad, Height Technologies, Highcat, and TAF Industries.

“Europe already has the industrial capacity and battlefield-proven drone technologies it needs,” says Maurits Korthals Altes, CEO of Intelic. “What has been missing is a shared operational layer that makes those capabilities visible, interoperable and deployable across borders. Strengthening that connection is essential for a stronger Europe.”

Founded in 2021, Intelic is a European defence technology company focused on strengthening cooperation between governments and Europe’s defence innovation ecosystem. The company’s flagship product is Nexus, a platform-agnostic command-and-control software layer for unmanned systems.

According to the company, Nexus has been deployed in operational conditions in Ukraine since 2025, enabling coalition drone systems from different manufacturers to work together across mission types.

Intelic BASE has been designed to address one of the key challenges facing European defence procurement: fragmentation. While governments across Europe are increasing defence spending in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, procurement processes can still require ministries to assess vendors separately and address integration challenges after systems have already been selected.

Intelic’s platform aims to reduce this friction by making interoperable capabilities visible before procurement decisions are made.

The platform is reportedly being developed with input from several European Ministries of Defence. Its approach is inspired by procurement models emerging in Ukraine, where defence institutions can identify and compare drone systems in one place, shortening the time between operational need and deployment.

In addition to its named European partners, the Intelic BASE consortium includes several Ukrainian partners that cannot be identified by name.

According to Intelic, these partners collectively produce more than 100,000 UAVs per month across ISR, strike, and counter-UAV systems, and generate over €1.2 billion ($1.5 billion) in sales.

The involvement of Ukrainian manufacturers brings battlefield experience and large-scale production capacity into the consortium. It also reflects the growing role of Ukraine’s defence innovation ecosystem in shaping European approaches to unmanned systems, particularly as governments seek technologies that have already been tested in operational environments.

A central feature of Intelic BASE is its integration with Nexus. By using a shared command-and-control layer, unmanned systems from different manufacturers can operate within a single mission environment.

Rather than acting as a traditional reseller structure or intermediary channel, Intelic BASE is intended to improve direct connections between governments and European manufacturers.

The launch comes as European governments continue to reassess their defence capabilities and supply chains. For unmanned systems in particular, speed, interoperability, and local industrial capacity have become increasingly important.

Intelic BASE aims to bring these priorities together by giving Ministries of Defence a clearer view of what Europe’s drone and unmanned systems manufacturers can already provide.