The world’s largest exercise dedicated to drones took place in Troia, and the Vice-President of the School of Engineering, Professor Raúl Fangueiro, was there representing EEUM.

Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping Augmented by Maritime Unmmanned Systems (REPMUS) is the world’s largest operational experimentation exercise with unmanned systems (aka drones) and was held once again in Portugal, at the Infante D Henrique Technology Free Zone, until 27 September 2024.

More than 2,000 people took part in the exercise, including navies, industry, academia and various national and international organisations. REPMUS tests technologies and drones that cover the various environments that characterise the maritime domain, whether surface, subsurface, aerial or terrestrial.

On 25 September, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, visited the Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping Augmented by Maritime Unmanned Systems (REPMUS) exercise. Also present were the Minister of National Defence, Nuno Melo, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces, General José Nunes Fonseca, the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Gouveia e Melo, among others.

REPMUS 2024 is organised by the Portuguese Navy and co-organised with the University of Porto, the NATO Science and Technology Organisation – Centre for Maritime Research and Experimentation (STO-CMRE), the NATO Joint Capability Group Maritime Unmanned Systems Initiative (JCGMUS) and the European Defence Agency (EDA).