CybExer Technologies has joined the consortium delivering CITADEL Range, a major European Defence Fund (EDF) project to build the next generation of cyber ranges for Europe’s armed forces. As a key contributor, CybExer leads the development and integration of the project’s artificial intelligence (AI) track — coordinating the design of the AI-driven scenarios and tools that make cyber defence training more realistic, adaptive and cost-effective.
A common cyber-range capability for European defence
Coordinated by Estonia’s CR14, CITADEL Range — Cyber Infrastructure for Training in Advanced Defence Exercises and Learning — brings together 39 organisations from 18 EU Member States, making it one of the largest cyber-range programmes ever undertaken in Europe. Selected under the EDF 2024 call “Development actions on cyber”, the 42-month project runs from November 2025 to May 2029, with a total budget of €60.4 million and an EU contribution of €48 million. It responds to a strategic shift across European defence: from reactive cyber response towards full-spectrum cyber defence operations. Rather than a single platform, CITADEL Range will deliver a set of modular, interoperable components that integrate with the cyber ranges Member States already operate, enabling national and multinational forces to train, exercise and rehearse missions in realistic, cost-efficient environments and to share scenarios and results securely across the Union.
“By building upon proven concepts and pushing the boundaries of realism and modularity in cyber ranges, we are equipping national and multinational forces with the tools they need to train for the full complexity of today’s cyber threat environment.”
— Silver Andre, CEO of CR14
CybExer’s role: leading the AI track
As lead of the project’s AI track, CybExer directs the use of machine learning to increase the realism, complexity and responsiveness of cyber defence exercises while keeping them affordable to run at scale, coordinating the work of multiple consortium partners. Traditional exercises rely on scenarios scripted by hand: realistic, but slow and costly to build, and predictable once a team has seen them. Embedding AI across the range changes that economics, allowing harder and more frequent training without a proportional rise in effort. The AI track is organised around six capabilities that together span the full exercise life cycle. Each capability is developed by a partner team under CybExer’s overall coordination: AI framework for cyber exercises, AI-powered content creation, AI-based red team, AI-based blue team, AI-based moderator and AI-powered analytics and reporting.
These capabilities do not stand alone. The same intelligence enhances the realism of the project’s digital-twin environments, draws its security requirements from the classified-information work, and supplies real-time performance metrics to the accreditation track. CybExer’s AI work also runs across the full project lifecycle, from concept and requirements through design, prototyping and testing, and the company contributes to the consortium’s overall system architecture and demonstration planning.
“AI is set to reshape defence as profoundly as cloud infrastructure reshaped enterprise technology. Its adoption is no longer in question; what matters now is whether it can be used safely and reliably in the environments where it is expected to operate.
By leading CITADEL Range’s AI track, CybExer is driving the development of more realistic and adaptive cyber exercises that allow AI-enabled capabilities to be tested before forces depend on them.”
— Aare Reintam, Chief Operating Officer at CybExer Technologies
Building on a proven record
The mandate builds on CybExer’s record in operational cyber exercises and its broader research and development work. The Estonian company’s cyber range technology has powered large-scale live-fire events and served NATO bodies, the European Defence Agency, and national defence and CERT organisations. CITADEL Range is also notable for its strong Estonian footprint: alongside coordinator CR14, CybExer is one of several Estonian organisations helping to shape Europe’s shared cyber defence capability.
About CITADEL Range
CITADEL Range (Cyber Infrastructure for Training in Advanced Defence Exercises and Learning) is a 42-month project co-funded by the European Defence Fund under its 2024 call. Coordinated by CR14, it unites 39 organisations from 18 EU Member States to develop modular, interoperable cyber-range capabilities for European defence, with a total budget of €60.4 million and €48 million in EU funding.
CITADEL Range is co-funded by the European Union through the European Defence Fund (grant agreement No. 101224382). Views and opinions expressed are 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 granting authority can be held responsible for them.
