Bio:

Dr. Mantas Sakalas received a Master’s degree in electrical engineering from Berlin University of Technology in 2012. He continued his career in the industry working as an engineer in the field of microwave electronics components for radar applications. Since 2018 he is the leader the RF Group in Baltic Institute of Advanced Technologies (BPTI) in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 2024, parallel to his work as the RF group leader in BPTI, he acquired a PhD in Dresden University of Technology in the field of MIMO radars. The main focus of his research is development of MMIC components for radar and EW applications.

Abstract:

Establishing all European supply chain for RF components is one of the key goals in strengthening the European strategic autonomy. This is especially true for defense applications, where Europe is still falling behind and is strongly dependent on overseas supply.
However, there is a number of challenges that need to be overcome for Europe to create its own supply chain for defense systems. A lack, or even absence of commercial, open semiconductor foundries offering services for defense application development, limited technology offering, need for advanced packaging techniques. How can we tackle these challenges? Insights will be shared from European design house point of view.