STEWART PENNEY / LINK"PING
Small-scale test will lead to major exercises from 2005 that will build platform for Net-Centric Warfare capability
Sweden will next week begin the first trial of systems for its Net-Centric Warfare (NCW) plans in a programme designed to lead to an integrated battlespace by 2010.
The NCW concept is intended to add every manned and unmanned aircraft, vehicle and ship as well as command and control (C2) elements into a single network. Demo 02 is part of a series of small tests leading to major exercises from 2005. Future development will link each platforms' sensors individually into the network.
FMV, the defence materiel administration, and Swedish industry will participate in the three-day Demo 02 - a "basic technology baseline demonstration" of a common integrated situational awareness picture.
Saab defence system analyst Stefan Nygren says the aim of Demo 02 is to prove it is possible to link military and civilian forces and create a single display for two exercise scenarios: one involving Danish and Swedish naval forces, the other an army battalion on exercise targeted by terrorists.
Real and simulated forces will be used in Demo 02, including ships and army vehicles, while one of Saab's JAS39 Gripen simulators and an unmanned air vehicle ground station simulator will also be plugged into the network.
The demonstration will use two links - the armed forces secure network and the civilian internet. Using the internet is a key element of Sweden's programme.
Although Saab has developed a wide area situation picture (WASP) display, Demo 02 will be based in the FMV's Smart Lab in Stockholm. The Saab display is an element within a C2 operations room simulator that is part of the company's NCW development centre. An operational WASP will need to be adaptable to the requirements of each C2 centre - supreme headquarters needs the overall situation, whereas a battalion commander wants local information.
Success in Demo 02 will lead to similar trials next year and in 2004 ahead of the key Demo 05 and Demo 06, intended to put the foundations in place for an NCW initial operating capability in 2010.
Demo 05 in 2005 will be the first major test of integrating multiple sensors from numerous platforms into a WASP and correlating the information to the network. This month's test will provide only target numbers, with the 2005 trial to fuse data, providing coherent information on each target.
Demo 06 will add decision support to the capability so it is possible to use the WASP and related information to control field forces.
Source: Flight International
