MCAs are special cases for companies, which are new in military supply chain. Because the mission is not part of the scope of supply, but the scope of supply can have serious impact on the success or failure of the planned mission. We will focus on two different disciplines: Security & Safety – serve as examples to show interfacing points of project requirements and the importance of technical civil standards. And finally, we will clarify where company processes and technical documentation help to gain new projects and keep the business future proof.

Defence capabilities are not only enabled by hardware, but also by software that operates quickly, securely and scalably. In many aerospace and defence companies, however, legacy systems are holding back digitalisation: they are difficult to integrate, costly to modify and critical to day-to-day operations. At the same time, demands for security, traceability and quality-assured implementation in accordance with standards such as AQAP are increasing. The focus is on a tried-and-tested approach to the secure modernisation of legacy software: from an initial assessment, through automated code and architecture analysis, to prioritised refactoring, quality gates and auditable documentation. This makes technical risks manageable and enables modernisation projects to be implemented more quickly. Participants will learn how organisations can modernise more quickly without lengthy in-house development phases, reduce the time-to-market for their software modernisation projects by up to 50 per cent, and lay the foundations for harmonised system landscapes, controlled update management and AI-supported decision-making processes.

Modern naval systems combine increasingly complex technologies while development, integration and qualification cycles are under growing pressure. Using the prediction and reduction of acoustic, electric and magnetic ship signatures as a practical example, this presentation illustrates how multiphysics simulation can help identify technical risks early, assess system interactions before physical integration and reduce costly late-stage design changes. By complementing physical testing with virtual development and validation, simulation can support faster integration and qualification of complex naval systems and help shorten the path from new technology to operational capability.

Europe boasts excellent research and high-performing companies—yet it often takes too long for a technological idea to become an operational capability. One reason for this is the dominant “technology push” approach: Technologies are developed along the TRL scale, from basic research to market readiness, while users, applications, and procurement are often not involved until late in the process. This results in long development cycles—and, at times, solutions that are technically impressive but fail to address the actual challenge. The defence sector therefore needs a shift in perspective: from a “technology push” to a “challenge-driven market pull.” The starting point is not existing technology, but a specific operational challenge. Military users, industry, and researchers develop hypotheses, test different approaches early on, and refine them through short learning cycles. Small-scale experiments, agile development, and continuous user feedback do not replace safety, certification, and verification—they ensure that the right things are tested sooner. The Deep Dive demonstrates how technological maturity and operational learning can be organized in parallel and what structures Europe needs to more quickly transform urgent challenges into effective, procureable, and scalable capabilities.