On January 29, 2025, Deimos Engenharia demonstrated the DISCRETION project’s quantum-secure communications system at the Permanent Representation of Portugal to the European Union in Brussels. Portugal’s Secretary of State for National Defence Álvaro Castelo Branco and Ambassador to the EU Pedro Costa Pereira attended the event, along with representatives from European institutions, NATO, and the four consortium member states.
According to idD Portugal Defence, the demonstration showcased two systems developed exclusively with Portuguese technology: a national cipher machine capable of distributing quantum keys, and next-generation quantum nodes. The DISCRETION project was described as the first EDIDP project to be led by a national Portuguese consortium.
With a total investment exceeding €6 million, DISCRETION is coordinated by Deimos Engenharia in partnership with Altice Labs, Adyta, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Instituto Superior Técnico, Telefónica (Spain), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain), Austrian Institute of Technology (Austria), and NEXTWORKS (Italy). Development involved close collaboration with Portugal’s Directorate-General for National Defence Resources, the National Security Office, and the General Staff of the Armed Forces.