Early December 2014 there was an important meeting for HIT at F4E in Barcelona: The start of a new phase in the development of the Electron Cyclotron (EC) Upper Launcher (UL).

The development is partly financed by F4E Grant 615. The project management is in the hands of Gabriella Sabene at F4E, supported by the ITER RO for EC Heating, Mark Henderson. Key partners in the consortium are ECHULA Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), CRPP Lausanne, CNR Milano, IPP Garching, and FOM Institute DIFFER in Nieuwegein. HIT cooperates with DIFFER on analysis of the UL maintenance. The new Grant aims to finalize the UL design for the Final Design Review mid-2017.