Digital Battlespace
NATO looks to integrate ISR capabilities further
A NATO official has called for broader recognition of the value of AEW&C systems within the wider Joint ISR network, as the organisation's C3 agency (NC3A) works on the challenges that its system faces.
Matt Roper, principle scientist and manager NAEW for the NC3A Scientific Technical Support programme, told the AEW and Battle Management conference in London on 17 January that the NATO airborne warning and control system (AWACS) has already proved that it can carry out an ISR mission, and therefore can be integrated into this larger network.
'System-specific solutions result in a multiplication of effort,' he warned. 'We need to find a better way of executing joint research, to work collaboratively in the future on jointly funded endeavours.'
'We're entering into that network domain now,' he continued, and explained that time has seen migration from a radar picket to a multi-mission capable system.
He highlighted key areas of importance such as training and technology, and said: 'We need to make sure that we harmonise these as we maximise capability; the training piece has to be taken seriously, and there is along way to go'.
Roper described a culture shift for those used to conducting missions of a higher security level to be able to develop into wanting to share information, and training needs to fill them with the confidence that the information being shared is going to the appropriate people.
MAGIC, a NATO capability that sees nine of the nations share data within an 'effective environment' is one path through which AWACS is a 'key area of interest'.
'It is a complex area but an important one to track. There is a way of sharing this data now if you choose to,' Roper said, and the programme is now in its second variant, MAGIC II, which has seen additional sensor data being added to the original GTMI and SAR, and now includes SIGINT and COMINT.
Roper also said that C2ISR is 'under stress' with the problem of decreased size versus increased requirements, and the challenge of emerging technologies and missions.
'We have to think about using systems differently,' he explained, because these nations cannot afford to just buy new ones.
Another challenge is the user being 'drowned in data', but at the same time 'preventing that starvation of information; when bringing that data on board, it has to relevant; you have to be able to use it'.
There is also an effort by NC3A to take 'complex ISR assets' into a non-secure environment, as well as trying to develop a standardised interface between AEW&C assets and UAVs.
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