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Increasing demands shape C4 requirements
With the US Army’s vision of an FBCB2 version to be anticipated to support the Army’s Future Combat System (known as the FCS Battle Command) and the development of a Joint Battle Command – Platform (JBC-J) improving future joint capabilities and interoperability, the Europeans are on the right path to play a bigger role in multinational network-centric operations. However, most of the ambitious programmes, involving improved theatre intelligence capabilities, new excellent sensors and platforms, real-time communications links, and vehicle-carried battle management systems (BMS) are to be conducted in the tighter defence budgets.
Among the major European nations, France is heavily investing in theatre intelligence capabilities. It sees its principal net-centric capabilities in the SITEL, BOA 2 (Bulle Opérationnelle Aéroterrestre), and FÉLIN (»Fantassin à Equipements et Liasions Integrées«) programmes. SITEL, an acronym for Système d’Information Terminal Elémentaire, is about to be fitted to a first batch of 30 combat vehicles of the French Army for deployment in Afghanistan. The platform-level BMS will be adapted to different land vehicles, including VBL reconnaissance vehicles and the AMX10P tracked carrier. The SITEL BMS, a development of Sagem Défense Sécurité, comprises a clip-in Toughbook which can be connected to PR4G VHF radio equipment. A GSM telephone network and a GPS receiver also found in this systems architecture will be for conferencing, blue force tracking, position determination, navigational purposes, and after action reporting. Some 4,500 systems will be procured to be fitted to armoured and utility vehicles of at least five Army brigades. The French Army is indeed at the forefront of digitisation activities throughout Europe, including several other programmes which are making significant progress. Among them are the SIR regimental-level command system and the SICF division/brigade-level command information system of which the latter will be interoperable with other European C2 systems.
In addition to the 40 prototype systems of the FÉLIN future soldier system which was already supplied to the 13th Mountain Infantry Regiment/BCA (27th BIM) at Barby for trials, the French Army is now receiving an additional 358 pre-production systems. This figure forms part of a total quantity of 31,500 systems which have been ordered for delivery until 2013. As to the FÉLIN’s communications equipment, there will be a RIF infantryman information network radio with GPS and two antennas as well as a computer containing an identification chip for the soldier’s position to be transmitted to the Platoon commander’s Dismounted Management System. The latter displays a digital map which continuously updates the position of the soldier in the network.
French elements of the Franco-German Brigade (including the 110th Mechanised Infantry Regiment/RI and the 3rd Armoured Reconnaissance Régiment/Regiment de Hussards) will be also equipped with the SITEL BMS. Utility vehicles and some examples of the WIESEL 20mm and TOW weapon carriers operated by the German units of the brigade, including the Light Infantry Battalion 292 and the Armoured Artillery Battalion 295, are receiving the German Army’s FüInfoSys H/FIS-H C4 system to also include INMARSAT C satellite communications and GPS. An initial batch of hardware and software components has been handed over to the HQ Company in January 2008. FIS-H will be comprised of the range of C2 applications, communications, and computing services which will be linked with all combat, combat support, and service support elements of the German land forces from division HQ down to the individual soldier. Also utilising the mission-proven FAUST E1 battalion-level BMS which evolved from the GeFüSys battalion-level and FüWES platform-level BMS, the overall system is designed to support a wider, more diversified communications network with common modular elements to be utilised in other specific applications. A total of 1,500 systems are on order worth EUR380million which will significantly improve interoperability with other NATO partners. Two Army divisions, the DSO Special Operations Division (involving 26nd Airborne Brigade and 31st Airborne Brigade) and the DLO Air Mobile Division (comprising 1st Air Mechanised Brigade and 3rd Army Aviation Brigade) have already been equipped with FAUST E1, providing geographic information system (GIS) mapping and Blue-Force tracking functions. Because of budgetary reasons, two further Army divisions (these will be reportedly the 1st and 10th Armoured Divisions) will be covered later under FIS-H Phase 2 deliveries.
Still not good enough
European forces are still hampered in and the rapid dissemination of information and knowledge, either in real-time or near real-time, by various means to other units, force components, and the C2 pyramid (at whatever level) for rapid interpretation, processing by humans or by automatic means, and decision-making. Also, at the present time, neither military communications infrastructures, nor network-centric concept designs are believed to be advanced to that extent to be able to achieve the widely addressed goal of a NATO network-enabled capability (N-NEC).
As modern armoured fighting vehicle (AFV) technology goes in line with the digitisation of the battlefield and the evolution of network-centric operations, land forces are upgrading their fire control equipment to better cope with the complex multi-threat combat environment. Improved systems replacing earlier fire control suites which were not able to deal with the massive number of targets and compressed reaction times of modern land warfare, are now anticipated to better augment and assist commanders in the decision-making process during combat. The great challenge is to integrate such equipment into a digitised network of reconnaissance, command, weapon control, and mission support. In performing this task, modern fire control suites as best found in the Hellenic Army’s INIOCHOS C2 system, will will provide various calculations for graphic and alphanumeric displaying which must be clearly interpreted and evaluated by the AFV’s commander and personnel.
The Hellenic Army recently purchased the INIOCHOS system, supplied by Rheinmetall Defence Electronics, which, as a service-oriented C2 system, fulfils the latest interoperability requirements for joint and combined operations. User- and role-based scalability, configurability as well as the shared system concept allows the utilisation from dismounted soldiers to command posts on Brigade command level whereas the main focus is on mobile command. The flexible communication concept enables the direct connection of Combat Net Radios (CNR) or Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) radios, where both modi are used for separate transmission of data of high priority (for Blue-Force tracking purposes), voice and data replication for situational awareness, and the distribution of the Common Relevant Operational Picture (CROP).
Data acquisition, transmission, processing, and display have to be quick to enable the rapid assignment of onboard sensors and weapons. The secure transmission of orders, reports, and tactical situation graphics is significant herein to allow for a maximum mission success. But the quantity of information is growing fast, with the greater mobility of modern weapon systems, performance-enhanced reconnaissance, and command equipment enabling armoured forces to ensure the interaction between individual units, force packages, or armed services.
Revisiting the French Armed Forces C4I and digitisation approach, the ill-fading BOA 2 project which is based on the combined action of a number of factors including the FÉLIN soldier/network-centric soldier system, different combat vehicles, autonomous, multi-mission robots, observation Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), armed/combat UAS as well as space-based observation systems (HELIOS 1/2A) and communications and navigation satellites, could be fully available by 2025. The often criticised BOA 2 will be able to tie together assets in the air-land theatre to improve force protection, enable full situational awareness, and to increase the operational tempo of missions across the battlefield.
Military operations as best reflected by those in Afghanistan require new Information Communications Technology (ICT)-led developments (e.g., broadband communications, satellite data transmission), excellent sensors as well as UAS and even UCAV technology. Any of these means are to also maintain operational cohesion and coherency in future multinational and Coalition-based operations. But there is also a tendency of increasingly deploying lighter and smarter weapons having GPS-type satellite-assisted navigation systems and an improved data link capability allowing real-time target updates and targeting from existing tactical networks across the spectrum of forces of different nationalities. To this point, the deployment of a German combat team to the ISAF-lead operations in Afghanistan has outlined an urgent requirement for an improved around-the-clock target detection capability, improved artillery and mortar weapons for 360-degree coverage out to a distance of 16.9 kilometres, and observers (Task Force scouts), and Tactical Air Control/Forward Air Controller (TACP/FAC). But missions of this kind strongly require specific RSTA technologies, notably man-packed miniature UAS like the ALADIN system or larger ones as found in the LUNA UAS, enabling a viable sensor-to-shooter connectivity for weapons designation. Joint C4ISTAR is therefore widely seen herein to provide the ability to mass effects without massing forces.
During the ISAF-led offensive Operation MEDUSA in southern Afghanistan in September 2006, the use of artillery has been shown functioning within a reduced sensor-to-shooter cycle, with unmanned aircraft for the first time delivering near real-time imagery for targeting purposes. The fire support was provided by a small Royal Netherlands Army (RNlA) detachment of three Krauss-Maffei Wegmann-built PzH2000NL 155mm/52-cal self-propelled (SP) howitzers which were deployed alongside Canadian Army M777 155mm towed howitzers. During these actions, the PzH2000NL fired M107 high-explosive (HE) projectiles on suspected Taliban positions near Tarin Kowth at the Kandahar-Uruzgan border. Although not further specified in after action reports, the unmanned reconnaissance element has probably been a SPERWER tactical UAS which was flown over the area of interest to provide imagery to the RNIA’s new Advanced Fire Support Information System (AFSIS). Also supported by manned aircraft including British Harrier GR7, French Mirage 2000, Dutch AH-64D Apache attack helicopters and F-16 MLU fighter-bomber aircraft, US Navy F/A-18F Super Hornets, and USAF A-10 Warthog, B-1B Lancer bombers, and B-52 bomber aircraft strafing Taliban positions in the Pashmui Pocket to the southwest of Kandahar, the overall infrastructure showed some short-comings, however. The performance of the AFSIS, a development of the RNlA’s Command & Control Support Centre (C2SC), was reduced to the extent whereby a built-in four-second firing delay imposed by AFSIS to allow for platoon fire synchronisation was identified to be too long. Although data transmissions between the PzH2000NLs and their associated FENNEK command post vehicles were described to be viable, real-time or near real-time imagery derived from manned/unmanned reconnaissance flights over the target area has not been fully received by the AFSIS. The Dutch were also stressing that Canadian troops were found to be unable to communicate with the AFSIS-equipped Dutch detachment because of interoperability problems. This was also due to the PR4G-type VHF combat net radio equipment having inadequate bandwidth in digital mode which the Dutch used for communications below distances of 15 kilometres or less. However, the importance of ISR during this operation has been also shown in the utilisation of RAF Nimrod MR.2 surveillance aircraft supplementing the USAF’s PREDATOR-A UAS while monitoring potential Taliban escape routes.
Silver lining
While the French Air Force has ordered a complement of 24 Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) UAS based on the IAI EAGLE 1 system (known as the Système Interimaire de Drone MALE), the Netherlands are also interested in this highly intelligent UAS approach to include a possible bi-national (French/Dutch) MALE UAS capability to provide for C4ISR also for brigade, battle group, and corps levels. Dutch officials say that this C4ISR approach will add new capabilities to the French and Dutch forces in an attempt to bring networking sensors, weapons systems, and operational information systems into some sort of a system of systems architecture.
As also the Royal Netherlands Navy is transforming into a more capable expeditionary force supported by a robust C4I systems architecture to achieve full-scale interoperability with other NATO and EU force components, the recently commissioned Enforcer class LPD-2 “Johan de Witt” demonstrated its C2 capability during the multinational exercise BRIGHT ARCHER 07 off the coast of Wales during which the vessel served as the headquarters for the Netherlands Maritime Forces (MARFOR). During this exercise, the LPD-2 accommodated Joint Task Force Command Personnel (CJTF) which was widely seen as a pre-requisite to operate the ship as a command vessel for the range of expeditionary littoral warfare and peacetime expeditionary support operations. For this purpose, “…the LPD-2’s Joint Operations Room (JOR) comprises 32 workstations for operations and communications officers plus ten additional workstations for the ship’s combat information centre, supporting ship-to-objective manoeuvre, joint force fire support, Information Operations (IOs), and communications and information systems”, Capt. E. H. Veen, Commanding Officer of the LPD-2 said during an invitation onboard the LPD-2 on 6 September 2007. The LPD-2’s C4I concept is based on the embarking staff bringing their own laptops. There are five local area networks of which two can be used for digital information-sharing. In doing so, the vessel is equipped with satellite communications terminals, including Super High Frequency (SHF) and Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications equipment.
In a similar way, the Royal Danish Navy is anticipating a C2 architecture onboard naval vessels which can be employed in support of anti-terrorist and anti-piracy actions. The new system, Systematic’s Maritime Boarding System (MBS) utilising SitaWare situational awareness software, the Command and Control Information Exchange Data Model (C2IEDM), and the IRIS data replication mechanism, will form the core of an operational BMS. It was successfully tested aboard the fleet’s combat support vessel “Absalon” during the NATO exercise NEPTUNE WARRIOR in October 2007. The overall system consisting of a ruggedised laptop or tablet computer with a Bluetooth-connected GPS for automatic positional information plus additional peripheral hardware components and communications equipment (BreadCumb WiFi system enabling communications with the mother ship), could be first employed during the NATO JTF 150 mission off the Horn of Africa later this year. Denmark will have the leadership during this operation.
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