The glass battlefield with RAFAEL

The Atos GmbH, a globally leading company in digital transformation, has been selected by the Federal Office for Equipment Information Technology and Use of the German Armed Forces (BAAINBw) as the general contractor for the study "Creation of a glass battlefield to support dynamic operations (ErzUntGlas)."

Atos has partnered with RAFAEL Advanced Defense Systems Ltd., developer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art defense solutions, to demonstrate the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) in conjunction with combat vehicles and to obtain a three-dimensional, real-time dynamic situational awareness for mobile deployment.

For mobile battlefield reconnaissance, the Bundeswehr requires many unmanned aerial vehicles (UAS) that can encompass a "glass battlefield." A C4I command and communication network consisting of civilian and military components is used. The study envisions an annual demonstration experiment starting in 2019 and lasting until 2023, followed by project planning until 2025.

As the main contractor awarded the contract, Atos will take over project management and integration, and RAFAEL will deliver FIRE WEAVER (advanced 3D Many-to-Many Sensor-to-Shooter System) and BNET (patented broadband IP spectrum sensor SDR system for air and land platforms).

BNET is a Spectrum-Aware SDR - leveraging the spectral arena of the battlefield cognitively optimized, with Multi-Frequency Channel Reception (MCR) allowing to receive and analyze information from numerous frequency channels simultaneously with a single RF head.

Mr. Yoav Wermuth, VP and Head of RAFAEL's C3I Directorate: "Today's battlefields are undergoing profound changes affecting the operational needs of land, air, and naval forces, with emerging real-time applications such as sensor-to-effector cycle closure systems. RAFAEL has taken on these challenges and developed the BNET family, enhanced with patented technology, and the Fire Weaver for highly precise, three-dimensional, GPS-independent joint visual language systems based on decades of experience in developing C4I solutions. The integration of these systems into the Bundeswehr will lead to a series of significant changes: it will create a common visual language between different types of forces not only within the Bundeswehr but also among allied forces sharing the same threats and missions, and connect multiple sensors and shooters in a single 'flat' network."

RAFAEL on the web: www.rafael.co.il