The Low Observable Tactical Unmanned Air System (LOTUS) project is a €9.7 million initiative to create a Europe-wide, cyber-resilient unmanned aircraft with a stealth design. RHEA Group’s Concurrent Design and Security Services teams worked together to provide a comprehensive cybersecurity assessment early in the project, enabling security by design for this fully European solution.
This paper outlines the benefits of security by design and how concurrent design helped achieve this for the LOTUS project, including integration of the MEHARI methodology.
Overview
LOTUS is a €9.7 million initiative to create a Europe-wide, cyber-resilient unmanned aircraft with a stealth design. Funded by the European Commission (EC) through the European Defence Industrial Development Programme (EDIDP), the aim of LOTUS is that it will contribute to the competitiveness and growth of the European Union’s defence capabilities. Uniquely, it is being designed in Europe and made with mainly European parts.
The 4-year project covers the design, production of prototypes and testing. RHEA System B.V., RHEA Group’s company in The Netherlands, is part of the LOTUS consortium that is developing this next generation of tactical remotely piloted aircraft systems (TRPAS). We were chosen to lead the cybersecurity work and provide concurrent design expertise. This dual role presented an opportunity to integrate both methodologies and develop a process that enabled a full-scale cybersecurity assessment early in the project.
Timescale
- LOTUS project start: December 2020
- Duration: 45 months
- Scheduled completion: 2024
Contents
- About LOTUS
- Context – defence programme funding in Europe and security by design
- Security aware concurrent design for the LOTUS project – the MEHARI approach and the process taken to integrate it with concurrent design
- Results and next steps.