4cost at the DEFCON Supply Chain Summit 2026
On 24 June 2026, the first DEFCON Supply Chain Summit took place in Augsburg. The specialist event brought together leading representatives from the defence industry, the aerospace sector, research and public procurement to discuss current challenges relating to resilient supply chains, the ramp-up of defence production and the digitalisation of development and procurement processes.
F.l.t.r.: Andreas Dippelhofer (CGI), Claude Meier (Consulteer), Noemi Schöffer (4cost), Joachim Schöffer (4cost), Lukas Wittwer (Consulteer)
4cost GmbH was present at the event both as an exhibitor and as a speaker, showcasing its portfolio of costing software and services. The focus was particularly on 4cost’s AI-powered solutions for producing reliable cost estimates from the early stages onwards, for calculating development costs for hardware and software, and for life cycle costing (LCC). These are areas that are becoming increasingly important, particularly in complex defence projects.
During the summit, 4cost’s sales team held around 35 in-depth discussions with representatives from industry and research. The exchanges with companies and organisations such as Airbus, Renk, Vincorion, Highcat, DLR and ACS were particularly promising.
The discussions clearly reflected the issues currently driving the industry. The following questions were a particularly frequent focus:
- How can robust cost estimates be produced even in the early stages of a project?
- How can development costs for hardware and software projects be reliably forecast?
- What role does Life Cycle Costing (LCC) play in future procurement decisions?
- What significance do NATO standardisations have for life cycle management?
- How can cost risks be identified at an early stage and well-informed decisions made despite a limited data set?
As part of the partnership with the AI start-up Aprion, in which 4cost holds a minority stake, Joachim Schöffer, Managing Partner of 4cost GmbH, gave a presentation on AI-supported drone detection for critical supply chains.
Joachim Schöffer (Managing Partner, 4cost GmbH)
“Both our costing solutions and our specialist presentation generated a great deal of interest and provided numerous starting points for further discussion,” says Mr Schöffer. “We were particularly pleased with the numerous concrete follow-up meetings that were arranged during the event itself.”
The DEFCON Supply Chain Summit has impressively demonstrated that reliable cost information is now a key success factor for modern defence programmes. In view of rising development costs, complex supply chains and accelerated procurement processes, digital methods of cost calculation and cost analysis are becoming increasingly important from a strategic perspective.
We would like to thank all visitors for the interesting discussions, and the organising team for a successful inaugural DEFCON Supply Chain Summit.