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GUEST ARTICLES

GeoInt Essential for Special OperationsBy Brig Deepak Sinha (Retd) Consultant, Observer Research Foundation Pg 18

Extending the ReachGp Capt JV Singh (Retd) Pg 20

Special Operations and GISLt Gen PC Katoch (Retd) Pg 23

A Whole New CapabilityProf Guy ThomasCo-Founder/Advisor, C-SIGMA Coordination Centre Pg 33

TECHNOLOGY ARTICLES

Providing the Winning EdgeEd Schroeder Pg 25

Jagwire: Cloud-based Solution for Situational WarfareRicardo Rios, Solutions Engineer, Exelis Pg28

REPORTS

DefExpo India 2014 Pg 36

DGI 2014 Pg 40

INTERVIEW

Wade Larson, President and COO, UrtheCast Pg 30

CASE STUDY

Iron Dome: The Protective Shield Pg 17

Cover Photo Credit: www.picstopin.com

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Special Operations, carried out by ‘Special Forces,’ either independently, or in conjunction with other conventional operations, are characterised by speed, surprise and violent action. They are usually covert, low profile by a limited force, against an unsuspecting enemy and based

on specific intelligence. Tasks include carrying out special reconnaissance, counter terrorism, search and rescue of hostages and sabotage and demolition. Special Forces personnel are highly trained in combat, can operate in all types of environment, utilise self reliance, are able to easily overcome obstacles, use unconventional skills and equipment to achieve objectives and above all, possess extraordinary physical strength and courage.

From the Ninjas of medieval Japan to the Green and Red Berets and SEALS of today, Special Forces have always been part of military folklore. History of warfare is replete with instances where operations by Special Forces have obtained results much greater than the size of force employed, sometimes even changing the course of the campaign. During the Burma campaign in 1943-44, Maj Gen Orde Wingate raised the famous ‘Chindits’ Long Range Penetration Groups, to operate deep behind Japanese lines, maintained by air supply. In the first operation, a force of 3,000 specially trained troops marched 1,000 miles to strike at the enemy from behind and destroy his rail and road communications. In the second operation, a much larger force of 20,000 was flown in by gliders and transport aircraft. Despite suffering heavy casualties due to enemy action

and disease, the Chindits were able to inflict extensive damage to the enemy, keep much larger forces tied down and were a big boost to the otherwise flagging British morale in the subcontinent.

Now more than ever before, with the set piece conventional war being replaced by unconventional warfare and with the global war on terrorism, there is a greater need for Special Forces. US relies extensively on Special Forces as part of its present security strategy. The failure of the rescue attempt of the American hostages from the Iranian embassy in 1980 led to the creation of the United States Special Operations Command, which is a unified command of the Special Forces of each of the three services. UK Special Forces under its MoD is a combined HQ of the three wings of its Special Forces. Russia’s Spetsnaz is a force particularly trained for anti-terrorism role. Most nations have Special Forces trained and armed, based on their threat perception.

Indian Army had raised two Para Commando battalions, 9 and 10, in the mid sixties. Conversion of additional Parachute Regiment battalions to Para (Special Forces) commenced in 1978. Presently, there are eight such Special Forces battalions. Apart from the army, the Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force too have their own Special Forces, MARCOS (Marine Commandos) and Garuda, though smaller in numbers. MoD last year approved in principle a proposal for the setting up of a tri-service Special Operations Command under a three star general. However, going by past record, how soon this proposal will be implemented is a moot question.

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Global Soldier Modernisation Market 2014-2024Reportstack has announced a newly published market intelligence report on The Global Soldier Modernisation Market 2014-2024. It provides detailed analysis of both historic and forecast global industry values, factors influencing demand, the challenges faced by industry participants, analysis of the leading companies in the industry, and key news.The soldier modernisation market is going through rapid technological devel-opments with major innovations in the fields of networked soldier technology and future soldier outfit modernisation. The defence procurement agencies of various countries are constantly updating the various manufacturers on potential

Insitu Releases Latest Version of ICOMC2Insitu recently announced the 2.0 release of ICOMC2, the company’s innovative, small-footprint common command and control system. It enables a single operator to control multiple unmanned vehicles using small-footprint, mobile hardware and features an open-architec-ture design that users can customise with plug-ins and new applications.ICOMC2 2.0 includes a mission com-mander mode, which increases situa-tional awareness and integrates with other C4ISR systems, enabling ICOMC2 to provide or receive tasking between ISR systems. It features a high-performance, lightweight mapping engine, a full-fea-tured software development kit, lower memory footprint for mobile usage, and new video formats.“This technology signifies a quantum leap for customers by providing a UAS system that can task, process, exploit and dis-seminate information and effects to end users,” said Ryan Hartman, Senior Vice President, Insitu programmes.

future requirements in fields of lethal-ity, survivability, C4ISR, sustainability and mobility. This makes it absolutely essential for the leading military nations of the world to routinely invest in science and technology as well as research and development in order to ensure they maintain their technological edge. Given these factors, the demand for soldier modernisation solutions will be driven by the continual digitisation of the modern battlefield where many nations are field-ing infantry who are capable of utilising tools such as advanced navigation, as well as communication and targeting equipment. Technological advances in the fields of powered exoskeletons and fuel cells will also drive the soldier modernisation market as leading military nations search for ways to minimise costs while deploying these technologies on the battlefield.The Global Soldier Modernisation Market 2014-2024 provides detailed analysis of the current industry size and growth expectations from 2014 to 2024, includ-ing highlights of key growth stimulators. It also benchmarks the industry against key global markets and provides detailed understanding of emerging opportunities in specific areas.

Electronic Warfare spending to grow over USD 9.3 billionGlobal spending on RF-based Electronic Warfare (EW) systems is forecast to grow to over USD 9.3 billion through 2022, as per the study carried out by Strategy Analytics. While troop withdrawals from theatres such as Iraq and Afghanistan are causing a short-term decline in the number of land-based Electronic Warfare equipment for Electronic Attack (EA) capabilities such as jammers, the general trends towards asym-metric warfare and the use of IEDs will continue to proliferate, leading to contin-

ued demand for land-based EW systems. The Strategy Analytics Advanced Defense Systems (ADS) service forecast model, ‘Land-based EW (EA) and Components Forecast 2012-2022,’ details global expendi-ture for EW equipment with future demand segmented in terms of form factors, power outputs and frequency trends.“The move towards wideband capabilities coupled with portability requirements have driven a move towards solid-state solutions with gallium nitride (GaN) tech-nology firmly entrenched as an enabling technology for land-based EW systems,” noted Asif Anwar, Director of the ADS ser-vice. “The overall component market for Land-based EW (EA) equipment will grow at a CAGR of 6.4 per cent through 2022.”

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NEWSRaytheon Establishes New EW Mission Area Raytheon Company’s Space and Airborne Systems business has announced the combination of several of its Electronic Warfare (EW) programmes into a new mission area called Electronic Warfare Systems, based at the company’s El Segundo, California campus. The portfo-lio contains the following:•   Next Generation Jammer•   EW Self Protection Systems•   EW Communications Systems•   Advanced EW Programmes•   Airborne Information Operations•   Key EW pursuits“This new mission area will focus our resources and expertise to provide the technology systems and advanced capa-bilities our warfighters need to effectively and safely execute their mission,” said Rick Yuse, president of Raytheon’s Space and Airborne Systems business.

Advanced Pulse Generation Tech for Next Generation Threats Northrop Grumman Corporation has fin-ished detailed performance testing on its Advanced Pulse Generator (APG), which represents the next technology evolution for the company’s Combat Electromag-netic Environment Simulator (CEESIM) product that is used to test and validate the performance of electronic warfare equipment.The APG utilises high speed Direct Digital Synthesizer (DDS) technology to generate radio frequency (RF) waveforms. This DDS-based capability offers indus-try-leading RF performance and brings significant advantages to the user, in-cluding higher modulation sample rates, wider bandwidth intrapulse modulation, higher precision and resolution, and reduced calibration time. The capability

also helps reduce RF part count, which leads to reduced cost and increased sys-tem reliability, according to the company.The APG is an affordable solution that keeps testing capability ahead of next

generation receiver test requirements and can be included in new simulator designs or back-fit into any existing CEESIM simulators as an upgrade, the company adds. The APG is designed with open

Origami Technology: New Possibilities for the Military

FIU researchers are using technology and principles derived from the traditional Japanese art of origami to create remarkably compact and incredibly efficient an-tennas and electronics.“By using origami geom-etries we can reconfigure antennas to whatever

shape fits our purpose,” said Stavros Georgakopoulos, Assistant Professor in FIU’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “These geometries offer unique advantages of collapsibility. That is important for a number of applications, such as technology that needs to be launched in space or used on the battlefield.”Georgakopoulos is working with colleagues at Georgia Tech with the support of USD 2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The team will work on the development of unique shapes that can allow the antennas to be only a couple of centimetres when folded flat and expand into much larger spaces with powerful, ultra-broadband capabilities.“A soldier will be able to carry a powerful antenna into combat folded in his back pocket,” said Georgakopoulos.Possible applications for the antennas include a range of military and commercial uses, including communications equipment, wireless sensors, health monitoring sensors, portable medical equipment, and many other applications.A traditional paper-folding art, origami includes both modular and moving types of structures. Mathematicians recently have focused on theoretical and practical questions raised by origami, resulting in technical advances in many areas.Origami structures can be fabricated from a wide variety of materials. While Geor-gakopoulos mainly uses paper, he is also exploring plastics and flexible dielectrics. The researchers use sophisticated inkjet printing techniques to deposit conductive materials such as copper or silver onto paper in order to create antenna elements with novel signal reception and other capabilities.

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Arcturus UAV and Urban Robotics Fly 3D Imager

The GeoDragon sensor system has now been integrated and flown on an Arcturus UAV T-20 Tier II unmanned aerial vehi-cle. The sensor system is enclosed in a wing-mounted pod and is capable of high resolution 2D and 3D image capture. The sensor was designed by Urban Robotics in Portland, Oregon and the aircraft was built by Arcturus UAV in Rohnert Park, California. The GeoDragon system can create 3D re-constructions in near-real time and output high-resolution digital elevation models, LiDAR-like datasets, and wide area maps. The system will be released in mid-2014. GeoDragon adds significant 3D imaging and mapping capabilities to the T-20 UAV.The unique aspects of the system are low weight (equating to longer endurance and loiter time,) small operational footprint on the ground (1 or 2 full size pick-up trucks,) a quick mount/dismount pod, quiet operation (the T-20 utilises a modified 4-stroke engine,) and the ability to fly simultaneously with other payloads on the T-20, such as EO/IR.GeoDragon imagery is post-processed using automated 3D algorithms to rapidly generate large mapping and modelling datasets. Urban Robotics develops software and hardware solutions for 3D ISR, remote sensing and geospatial applications, including collection, post-processing, and data management. The T-20 is a runway independent, Tier II class, small tactical UAV with a technical readiness level (TRL) 9. The primary mission of the Arcturus UAV is ISR. Typical missions include aerial mapping, drug interdiction, fire-fighting, border patrol, force protec-tion, search and rescue, as well as military ISR. Payloads include full motion video from daylight and infrared cameras. Video is then transmitted by secure data link to mission commanders on the ground. An onboard GPS autopilot with waypoint navigation accepts multiple flight plans from the Ground Control Station, allowing the T-20 to return to a specified location autonomously after up to 16 hours of flight. The T-20 is powered by a 190cc an air-cooled, four-stroke, fuel injected engine. Carbon fiber com-posite construction used in the T-20 airframe allows for payloads up to 65 lbs.

Vuzix’ Defence Partner Begins Sales of M100 Smart Glasses Vuzix Corporation recently announced that its distribution partner Six-15 Technologies has begun sales and marketing of the M100 Smart Glasses to defence, homeland security and first responder markets. Six-15 is Vuzix’ exclusive distributor of Vuzix products into the defence, security and first re-sponder markets globally and will assist Vuzix in working with these customers in using the Vuzix M100 SDK (software developer kit).The Vuzix M100 smart glasses contain a virtual display with integrated camera and powerful processing engine, running on the Android OS.As a hands free accessory with integrated camera/display functionality, Vuzix smart

architecture modularity and flexibility, making it directly adaptable for use in laboratory, anechoic chamber and range applications.“The advanced waveform generation, when coupled with our advanced an-gle-of-arrival modelling and controlled by our state-of-the art graphical user inter-face, immediately transforms the CEESIM system into the most powerful, most advanced electronic warfare simulator available,” said Joe Downie, Site Director of Northrop Grumman’s Buffalo-based Amherst Systems business unit.The Northrop Grumman CEESIM is an advanced technology simulator that gen-erates complex dynamic electromagnetic environments to simulate true-to-war conditions. CEESIM provides angle-of-ar-rival radio frequency simulation tech-niques including phase, amplitude and time difference of arrival. The system includes an updated user interface that makes programming complex emit-ters more intuitive while allowing the

operator to customise the interface to suit specific needs.

EOIR Technologies, Inc. is Now Hortonworks Systems Integration Partner EOIR Technologies, Inc., a portfolio com-pany of The White Oak Group, recently announced that it has become a Horton-works systems integration partner. Hor-tonworks is the only 100-per cent open source software provider to develop, dis-tribute, and support an Apache Hadoop platform explicitly architected, built and tested for enterprise-grade deployments, claims the company. This strategic partnership will allow Hor-tonworks customers to leverage EOIR as a professional services organisation that can provide big data solutions based on Hortonworks Data Platform (HDP).“EOIR has many years of cloud computing implementation experience placing them at the leading edge for Hadoop deploy-ments, and we look forward to partnering

with them to continue to provide world class solutions in this rapidly evolving envi-ronment,” said John Kreisa, Vice President of strategic marketing at Hortonworks.

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New HD Camera from UTC AerospaceUTC Aerospace Systems introduces the newest high definition (HD) camera in its Sensors Unlimited MiniSWIR product line: the GA1280JSX. This shortwave in-frared (SWIR) camera provides 1280x720 resolution for HD video capture;

high-sensitivity for imaging in low light environments; and a light, compact, rug-gedised design that allows for reliable use in both military and industrial applica-tions. UTC Aerospace Systems is a unit of United Technologies Corp. Sensors Unlimited brand SWIR cameras are field proven and easily integrated into both military and industrial systems. The GA1280JSX HD-SWIR camera is ideal for imaging systems requiring high definition SWIR imagery, light weight (the camera weighs less than 120g without a lens, which is about equivalent to 5 AA batter-ies), and non-optimal lighting operation (the camera functions in both daylight and low light environments, including passive imaging under moonlight). Ex-amples of applications include passive or covert-active persistent surveillance, mul-ti-laser spotting and tracking, imaging through atmospheric obscurants such as haze and smoke, hyperspectral imaging, and industrial product inspection.

Secure Wireless Tagging and Tracking Capability for Managing Sensitive Assets Accurate tracking of munitions and other assets in harsh and/or sensitive environ-ments is now possible through a wireless automatic identity technology introduced by Lockheed Martin. Working with Visible Assets, Inc., Lock-heed Martin co-developed sensitive item tracking capabilities that use magnetic fields to track assets in locations where traditional radio frequency technologies (RFID) encounter challenges.Based on the international wireless proto-col standard (IEEE 1902.1), this electro-magnetic tagging and tracking solution, called RuBee, can be used to identify and track a variety of sensitive items including fused ordnances, firearms, night vision goggles and flack jackets. Each item is outfitted with a wireless visibility tag, which can be read and located anytime from the RuBee network.One example of this application is the Lockheed Martin Armory, which allows all tagged items be networked and housed on ‘smart racks’. The smart rack allows users to physically audit all items several times each day without any hu-man help or intervention.Because RuBee tags operate on electro-magnetic, rather than radio frequency wavelengths, solutions based on this

glasses enable communication applica-tions for defence to first responders that enable streaming video to visual navi-gation via an integrated GPS and head tracking. The interactive head tracking and integrated HD camera, combined with applications on the M100 and a connection to the Cloud or in field net-work, empower hands free information access and augmented reality applica-tions that connect the digital world to the real one.

Raytheon to begin Phase 3 of DARPA’s PCAS programmeRaytheon Company is beginning Phase 3 of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Persistent Close Air Support (PCAS) programme. DARPA has exercised its Phase 3 option with Raythe-on, an 18-month, USD 25.5 million effort scheduled to culminate in a series of flight tests and live-fire demonstrations.PCAS software could enable ground troops to receive close air support sooner by improving coordination among joint terminal attack controllers, airborne sensors and weapons. PCAS is designed to improve human-machine interfaces for both ground and air personnel by inserting autonomous algorithms in the decision chain, and digitally sending shared situational awareness messages. Originally designed for the A-10 Thun-derbolt, the programme was expanded in 2013 to develop a platform- and sensor-agnostic electronics suite that could be easily integrated onto multiple platforms. The system is also designed to work with a variety of legacy radios to facilitate transition to multiple users.Phase 3 was awarded in the third quarter of 2013. Raytheon is the systems integra-tor for PCAS and leads an industry team comprised of Rockwell Collins, General Electric, BAE Systems and 5-D Systems. Raytheon brings its expertise in overall systems integration, weapons, aircraft in-tegration and unmanned aircraft system ground control stations to PCAS.

Northrop Grumman Delivers Modular Space VehicleNorthrop Grumman has delivered a plug and play satellite system that can be quickly assembled as needed to meet changing battlefield require-ments. The system called MSV, is the first open systems spacecraft bus that supports a top priority of launching smaller, less expensive satellites in a matter of weeks for short-term missions — a capability commonly referred to as responsive space. The MSV bus has the flexibility to: operate in several orbits (Low Earth, Medium Earth and Geosynchronous); be launched from a variety of launch vehicles — the Minotaur I and IV, Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV) and the Falcon 9. MSV is also compatible with the EELV Secondary Payload Adapter-Grande; Perform on orbit anywhere from one to seven years or more. “MSV provides ways for future development of rapid response space capabilities that will be timely, cost-efficient and flexible. A satellite bus contains the support structure and control subsystems that allow the pay-load to perform its mission,” said Doug Young, Vice President, Missile Defense and Advanced Missions, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. The open systems design approach has numerous other advantages, such as, standard plug-and-play interfaces that allow payloads to be fully checked out prior to integration with the spacecraft using common test equipment for all missions. The same interfaces mean common test equipment can be used across all missions.

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technology offer extremely high levels of security, said the company. Data passed through these channels operate more like secure peer-to-peer networks, and are less prone to outsider attempts to access information. RuBee visibility solutions are currently used in many high security US Government and international facilities.

Northrop Grumman Awarded Task Order for Naval Training SystemsThe US Navy has selected Northrop Grumman Corporation to continue development and improvement of combat systems trainers with a task order valued up to USD 33 million, if all options are exercised.The task order was awarded under the SeaPort-e indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity multiple award contract. Under the direction of the Naval Undersea War-fare Center (NUWC) Division Newport, Newport, R.I., Northrop Grumman will provide designs, prototypes and products for new and updated training systems that offer enhanced training realism while be-ing more affordable and easier to operate. The company will also conduct system analysis and development, technology re-fresh, product assurance and performance evaluation. The training capabilities will be used to prepare sailors for important op-erations such as navigation, sensor control and weapons launching.

CACI to Provide Networking Services to the US ArmyCACI International Inc has been selected

as a prime contractor to provide com-munications and network services to the US Army’s Communications-Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center (CERDEC) Space and Terrestrial Communications Directorate (S&TCD). The five-year (three base plus two op-tions) multiple-award indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, has a ceiling value of USD 497 million.CERDEC develops and integrates C4ISR technologies that enable information dominance and decisive lethality for the networked troops. S&TCD, part of the CERDEC, provides secure wireless military communications and networking technologies by assuring connectivity over longer ranges and diverse terrain while in motion, boosting capacity to meet the increasing demands to the tactical edge and ensuring cyber security across the enterprise.Under the terms of the contract, CACI will provide research, development and evaluation in support of communica-tions and networks systems under the five S&TCD division technology areas including antennas, system engineering, satellite communication, cybersecurity, and communications networks.

Boeing Receives USD 2.4 Billion Contract for 16 P-8A Poseidon AircraftBoeing’s P-8A Poseidon programme will enter full production, following a USD 2.4 billion contract award from the US Navy for 16 additional aircraft that will bolster maritime patrol capabilities. The order,

which will take the total fleet to 53, marks a transition from preliminary low-rate production.The company has delivered 13 P-8As to the Navy, which deployed its first patrol squadron to Kadena, Japan in December 2013 and has been conducting operational missions since then. Based on Boeing’s Next-Generation 737-800 commercial airplane, the P-8A will enhance the service’s anti-submarine, anti-surface warfare and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities. Overall, the Navy plans to purchase 117 P-8As to replace its P-3 fleet.Its industry team includes CFM International, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, Spirit AeroSystems, BAE Systems and GE Aviation.

L-3 Acquires Data Tactics CorporationL-3 Communications has acquired Data Tactics Corporation. The business, renamed L-3 Data Tactics, is a specialised provider of Big Data analytics and cloud computing solution services, primarily to the US Department of Defense. Head-quartered in McLean, Virginia, Data Tactics employs approximately 200 people, including more than 150 data scientists, engineers, architects and developers, most of whom possess US government security clearances. Its highly tailored solutions are used by the US military and government agencies, including public safety and law enforcement organisations. The business is expected to generate sales of approxi-mately USD 50 million for the year ending

BAE Systems Delivers Big Data Storage to Commercial CustomersBAE Systems recently launched its TeraStar system for commercial customers. The system is a data storage solution engineered to meet the next-generation government and military big data storage requirements while accommodating the cost and size needs of small to medium sized businesses and cloud-based storage providers.According to the company, the TeraStar system’s unique design enables it to store immense volumes of data with minimal oper-ational expense by requiring nominal physical space and using less power than traditional big data storage systems. The system’s scalable, ultra-dense storage capacity also delivers a competitive advantage to cloud-based storage providers by reducing the overall cost per terabyte of storage capacity. To store the same amount of data, other single system commercial standard offerings typically require twice the rack space, utilise twice the power, and require more cooling. In addition, the TeraStar system’s design is compatible with a wide variety of storage media devices enabling substantial storage flexibility.BAE Systems developed the TeraStar solution to accommodate the

massive amount of data produced by next-generation sensors. The company has leveraged this internally de-veloped solution to support sensors such as ARGUS, the

gigapixel-plus wide-area persistent surveillance sensor that it created for the US government.

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December 31, 2014. Founded in 2005, Data Tactics provides solutions that address the future of national security needs, including sense-making from large volumes of data, cloud computing, ultra large-scale data management and analytics, cybersecurity, as well as advanced research, software development and integration capabilities. The business also offers several proprietary solutions, including its Big Data Engine platform that provides a high-speed analytics and cloud computing platform to a broader customer set, including select commercial markets. Additionally, Data Tactics is currently a prime contractor on several national security programs aimed at providing next-generation solutions in Big Data management and analysis.

Saab Signs Contract for RBS 70 with Brazilian ArmySaab has signed a contract on deliver-ies of the RBS 70 VSHORAD (very short range air defence system) to the Brazilian Army. The order comprises deliveries of man-portable launchers, missiles and associated equipment. First deliveries of materiel are scheduled during 2014.The deal comprises an undisclosed number of RBS 70 man-portable launch-ers, Mk II type missiles, simulators, night vision equipment, a test set, maintenance tools, spares, associated equipment, and training for the weapon’s operators and maintainers. The systems are among oth-ers intended to protect Brazil’s strategic infrastructure, and would be employed in

protection of major incoming events, in-cluding the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

US Air Force certifies EW Systems for Five International AlliesExelis has successfully installed the latest operational software and certified mission data files for Exe-lis-built Advanced Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS) systems in Chile, Oman, Poland, Pakistan and Turkey. AIDEWS is an electronic warfare (EW) self-protection system that shields F-16 fighter aircraft from advanced radio frequency threats. Exelis has provided AIDEWS systems, components and operational software to the five coun-tries as part of a foreign military sales programme. AIDEWS is part of the ALQ-211 family of systems produced at the Exelis Elec-tronic Systems (ES) facility in Clift-on, N.J. ES is the lead division for the company’s electronic warfare strategic growth platform and provides advanced, integrated EW solutions to protect and enable customers to perform their critical missions.

2d3 Sensing Launches Second Generation Reticle Georegistration2d3 Incorporated has announced the launch of a new version of Reticle Georegistration. This enhancement is part of the latest release of its motion imagery processing, exploitation, and dissemination product suite: TacitView 3.3, Catalina 3.2, and Tungsten 3.4.First launched in May 2013, 2d3 Sensing’s Reticle improves geospatial metadata for use in mapping, targeting, and correcting metadata errors typical of aerial full motion video platforms. With this new release, 2d3 Sensing has extended this feature by introducing tools within the TacitView user interface that allow analysts to provide tie-points between the tactical imagery and the reference map. The result is a more rapid feature tracking solution, which enables the system to achieve georegistra-tion with minimal latency. “We have always taken the view that it is not good enough to simply provide ‘black box’ solutions to hard problems, because the simple fact is that data in

the field is different than data in the lab. When a user is in the field, they need the ability to work with the system to ‘tune’ towards a usable output,” said Jon Damush, President of 2d3 Sensing. “By adding tie-point support into Reticle, we are now allowing the user to influence the solution provided, which will produce useful results in a much wider range of real-world aerial imaging missions.”In addition to the latest Reticle enhancements, the most recent release of 2d3 Sensing’s product suite also includes: Still image mosaicking, still image georectification, and TacitView Software Development Kit (SDK)

Overwatch’s iCommand Software Delivers Real-time SAOverwatch Intelligence Solutions recently announced the release of its iCommand 1.0 mission command solu-tion. The new software provides military and intelligence users a cloud-enabled service for command and control (C2), operations-intelligence data conver-gence and sensor/platform integration to deliver real-time situational under-standing and enhanced mission-centric collaboration.Tactical Operations Center mission critical information is currently spread across disjointed systems and displays, forcing personnel to scan multiple maps, live data displays, mission plans and intelligence summaries to build under-standing of a situation or specific events, according to the company. Much of this data is presented without context and requires cross referencing of multiple sources of information. iCommand addresses these issues by means of a cloud-based C2 suite. It integrates data into a common platform where context is built and maintained over time. This information is displayed in a unified manner, removing the need to cross reference multiple displays and docu-ments and reducing the time it takes to make decisions.The iCommand solution enables cross-echelon integration from strategic users and platforms down to tactical units. It provides for a converged intel-ligence battle rhythm through real-time data sharing and collaboration across organisational divides. A variety of apps make possible dynamic, multi-touch, information collaboration across users.

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US Coast Guard Selects MH-65E Fleet’s Radar Sensor System Rockwell Collins has been selected by the US Coast Guard to provide the MH-65E Radar Sensor System (RSS) for 102 MH-65E aircraft. Rockwell Collins’ RTA-4114 MultiScan weather radar with enhanced ground/shoreline mapping and a new maritime surface search mode will provide the coast guard with a lightweight, flexible and supportable solution. Under the Coast Guard contract, Rockwell Collins will provide an enhanced RTA-4114 radar with a new maritime surface search mode and advanced ground clutter rejection algorithms expanding the radar’s ground mapping capability for shoreline and over water use.The RTA-4114 MultiScan weather radar features automated tilt, clutter removal and gain management, as well as auto-matic compensation for many predictable atmospheric and climatic conditions.

ManTech Completes Acquisition of Allied Technology Group, IncManTech International Corporation has completed the acquisition of Allied Tech-nology Group, Inc., an engineering and information management solutions com-pany with strong customer relationships and strategic contracts with the Depart-ment of Homeland Security (DHS).The acquisition will enable ManTech to deliver services through Allied Technolo-gy’s unrestricted prime positions on two DHS primary acquisition vehicles: the Technical, Acquisition and Business Sup-port Services (TABSS) and the Enterprise Acquisition Gateway for Leading Edge Solutions II (EAGLE II). Both of these IDIQ contracts, with a combined ceiling of USD 33 billion, are mandatory-use ve-hicles for most programme management, systems engineering and information technology work at DHS.

GDNexus Web Portal Expands into ISR DomainGDNexus, a free, online community of technology providers created by Gen-eral Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, announced that it has expanded its focus into the Intelligence, Surveil-lance and Reconnaissance (ISR) domain. GDNexus is a customer-centric web portal that enables General Dynamics

to take a customer’s validated mis-sion requirements to the marketplace, providing companies with the opportu-nity to respond with relevant products, services and solutions. Initial ISR focus areas include analytics; signal, image and video processing; and visualisation.GDNexus members can submit respons-es to requirements-driven Need State-ments. With each Need Statement linked to a customer’s specific mission need, GDNexus creates new business opportu-nities for companies that might not have access to the government or insight into the mission, said the company.All member submissions are reviewed through a comprehensive and objec-tive process. After the review, a detailed assessment is provided to the customer that describes how the most compelling solution best supports the mission needs. Additionally, GDNexus provides mem-bers with assured protection of intel-lectual property and detailed feedback for every submission, helping members enhance their product strategy and align technology roadmaps.

SAIC Awarded Task Order by US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center AtlanticThe US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic awarded Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) a task order to provide a wide variety of support services for the Distrib-uted Common Ground System – Marine Corps (DCGS-MC) Integrated Project Team. The single-award, cost-plus-fixed-fee task order has a one-year period of performance and a total contract value of more than USD 13 million if all options are exercised. The task order was awarded under the US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic (SSC Atlantic) Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Combat Systems, Intelli-gence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) System of Systems Engineering and Integration (SoSEI) contracting vehi-cle and work will be performed in South Carolina, US.DCGS-MC links ISR systems to US Marine Corps analysts and other military services to provide capabilities for enterprise search, content discovery, collaboration, and workflow management. Under this task order, SAIC will provide support for programme management, production en-

gineering, integrated logistics, technical data package development and testing.

L-3 Coleman Wins USD 73 Million Contract L-3 Communications has announced that its Coleman Aerospace business has been awarded a new, competitively won contract from the US Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to provide Medium-Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM) target vehicles for use in tests of missile defence systems. The initial value of the award is approximately USD 73 million, with additional options valued at more than USD 400 million over the next five years.In support of MDA, L-3 Coleman will de-velop and manufacture the MRBM targets and provide integrated logistics support, including inventory storage and main-tenance, pre- and post-mission analysis, launch preparation, launch execution and engineering services. These targets are an essential part of MDA’s test plan to verify the effectiveness of its missile defence systems.

MDA to Provide Canada a Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance System MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA) has announced that it has signed USD 25 million (CAD) contract with the Government of Canada to pro-vide the Department of National Defence (DND) with a comprehensive broad-ar-ea maritime surveillance solution. In June 2007, MDA received a contract for USD 2.8 million (CAD) to conduct the definition phase for project Polar Epsilon. The current contract initiates the imple-mentation phase of this maritime and arctic surveillance project.Polar Epsilon is a project targeted to deliver space-based, day and night, all-weather maritime surveillance information of Can-ada’s Arctic and its ocean approaches, and includes global high-resolution surveil-lance capabilities to support deployed Ca-nadian Forces. Polar Epsilon will monitor vessels within Canadian and international waters using MDA’s RADARSAT-2. MDA’s solution will significantly enhance MDA’s existing ship detection capabilities through an on-orbit upgrade of RADARSAT-2’s im-aging capabilities. The solution will also in-clude east and west coast real-time ground systems and an advanced ship information extraction system to exploit the new data.

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Major Modification of French AWACS Aircraft Successfully CompletedBoeing and Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance (AFI KLM E&M) have successfully completed the Mid-Life Upgrade modification on the first of four E-3F Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft for the French Air Force. The upgrade is part of a Foreign Military Sale in 2010 between France’s Direction Générale de l’Armement (DGA) and the US government.In June 2013, Boeing subcontractor AFI KLM E&M began upgrading the electrical, mechanical and structural systems and mission hardware on this aircraft. The Mid Life Upgrade — the largest ever for French AWACS — will provide the fleet a robust picture of the battlespace and more actionable

Bell Helicopter Wins Contract with NYPD for Four Bell 429sBell Helicopter has signed an agreement with the New York Police Department (NYPD) for four Bell 429 helicopters. The aircraft will be used for airborne law enforcement patrol, serving the citizens of New York City and surrounding jurisdic-tions, said the company. The NYPD currently has three Bell 412EPs in service for a variety of missions ranging from search and rescue at sea to gathering intelligence and combating terrorism. Delivery of the NYPD’s new Bell 429s is anticipated to be complete in 2015.The Bell 429 delivers exceptional speed, range, hover performance and enhanced safety margins with a fully-integrated glass cockpit, advanced drive system and best-in-class WAAS navigation and IFR capability. It has more cabin space than any other light twin helicopter, with flat flooring and seating for seven passengers and one flight crew, said the company. Wide 60 inch side doors and optional rear clam-shell doors provide quick and easy access for flight officers when every second counts, Bell added.

information while reducing aircrew workload, said the company. The aircraft now will undergo ground and flight tests at Avord Air Base before being delivered to the Air Force later this year once qualified by DGA.The Mid-Life Upgrade is the most important to date for the French fleet and is modelled on the Block 40/45 contract developed for the U.S. AWACS fleet, said the company. While the first AWACS aircraft was housed at the AFI KLM E&M site at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, the three other AWACS aircraft will be upgrad-ed in a new facility owned by AFI KLM E&M at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris.

Saab to Supply Combat Training Centers to FinlandSaab, Training & Simulation has received an order from the Finnish Defence Force to supply Combat Training Systems to regiments. The order also includes support for seven years starting 2014. The contract includes providing the Finnish army with anti-tank simulators, vehicles simulators and systems for Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT). The simulators include the new laser standard OSAG 2. The contract also

includes Mid Life Upgrade of the finish combat training centre, KASI system. The new regimental system and the KASI system will be used together in a battalion exercises.

Saab Introduces SR-3 Surface Movement Radar Saab recently introduced the SR-3, its third generation, entirely solid state X-band Surface Movement Radar (SMR) for airport surface surveillance applications. The SR-3 features the antenna, transceiver and radar data processor, and employs an open architecture design that utilises industry standard interfaces for easy integration into existing or new air traffic control systems. The radar complies fully with EUROCAE ED-116 and EUROCAE ED-87B standards for A-SMGCS Levels 1, 2 and 3.The SR-3 radar delivers the highest level of surveillance available in all visibility conditions due to 16-level frequency diversity, automatic clutter suppression through advanced signal processing, and sophisticated processing that eliminates multi-path targets, said the company. The fully redundant design and small number of line replaceable units delivers high reliability, easy maintenance and low life cycle costs. In addition, the small indoor/outdoor transceiver cabinet means greater site flexibility and lower installation cost.

Airbus Defense and Space Launches Satcom ServicesAirbus Defense and Space has launched the AuroraGlobal high throughput servic-es for government, maritime and enter-prise markets. The new portfolio of high throughput services — featuring Ku-, X-, and Ka-bands — provides increased throughput, without the need to change antenna systems. It can provide enhanced X-band capabilities and performance for civil and military government purposes, dramatically increasing throughput up to four times more than current services using existing terminals, and enabling greater throughput via new smaller terminals, in line with growing operational needs, said the company. For instance, recent trials with hardened Skynet satellites at Airbus Defense and Space have proven that a 60-cm X-band terminal can support more

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system fires a laser once its infrared sensor detects incoming missiles. The laser dis-rupts the navigation system of the missile, thus throwing it off course and away from its intended target. C-Music is said to have been chosen by the Israeli Transportation Ministry to protect Israeli airliners.

Russia Unveils USD 9bn UAV ProgrammeRussia recently announced its plans to spend around USD 9 billion by 2020

on military UAVs. Under the plan, the country hopes to develop a wide range of drones, including the combat and reconnaissance variants. Presently, Rus-sia operates a fleet of about 500 drones.The move follows President Vladimir Putin’s announcement last year expressing the need for the country to concentrate in this area.

Exelis to Supply Pakistan with EW SystemsExelis has received USD 9 million from the US Air Force to supply spare com-

ponents for electronic warfare (EW) technology provided to Pakistan under an existing contract.The original contract, awarded in Decem-ber 2011, granted Exelis $53 million to supply Pakistan with ALQ-211 Advanced

than 70Mbps of throughput. Separate tests using the SCOT5 1.5-m naval ter-minals confirmed that levels of assured service throughput can be achieved at four times the current levels provided to Skynet customers. In the maritime market, the customers will benefit from the next generation Ku-band VSAT ser-vice without the need to replace existing antenna. The new maritime VSAT offering is an all-in-one solution featuring twice the previous data volume allowances and twice the previous data speeds. It comes with unlimited L-band back-up service, as well as the new XChange platform, without having to invest in a new VSAT antenna, the company added.

3D Printed Metal Part Flown for First Time on UK Fighter JetBAE Systems has created and flown a 3D printed metal part for the first time on-board a Tornado fighter jet, paving the way for using 3D printed parts in other military kit.Whilst the first 3D printed metal part took to the skies, the company says it has been designing and producing 3D printed functional components at Royal Air Force (RAF) Marham to support the aircraft when it is being maintained on the ground. The parts are made from a plastic material and include protective covers for Tornado cockpit radios, support struts on the air intake door and protective guards for power take-off shafts. Use of these

parts will cut the cost of repairs, mainte-nance and service to the RAF to the tune of more than £1.2 million over the next four years, said the company. With some of the parts costing less than £100 per piece to manufacture, 3D printing has already resulted in savings of more than £300,000 and will offer further potential cost savings of more than £1.2

million till 2017, claims the company.“You are suddenly not fixed in terms of where you have to manufacture these things. You can manufacture the products and whatever base you want, provid-ing you can get a machine there, which means you can also start to support other platforms such as ships and aircraft carri-ers,” said Mike Murray, Head of Airframe Integration at Warton, adding, “And if it’s feasible to get machines out on the front line, it also gives improved capability where we wouldn’t traditionally have any manufacturing support.”

Indian Navy fine-tunes its NCW capabilities Indian Navy recently conducted a month-long naval combat exercise to validate its NCW capabilities with the effective utilisation of its military satellite, GSAT-7. The exercise, Tropex, was held in the Bay of Bengal. The location is significant since India is steadily bolstering its military force-levels to counter China’s moves in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).The exercise saw both the eastern and the western fleets amassing across the waters for the intensive combat manoeuvres in all the three dimensions — underwater, surface and air.The satellite, which has a 2,000-nautical mile footprint over the IOR, seamlessly networked about 60 warships and 75 aircraft with operational centres ashore through high-speed encrypted data-links.Tropex is said to have helped the Navy as-sess the operational readiness of its war-ships, validate its war-fighting doctrine and integrate newly-acquired capabilities in its concept of operations.

Anti-Missile System for Passenger Planes Israel has successfully tested a missile de-fence system to protect passenger aircraft from the threat of shoulder-launched mis-siles. Elbit Systems along with the Israeli defence ministry recently announced the successful completion of a trial programme of the C-Music system. The

Credit: BAE Systems

Credit: www.fas.org

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Fast Patrol Vessel ICGS ‘Abhinav’ Commissioned Abhinav, the third in the series of twenty Fast Patrol Vessels (FPVs), designed and built by Cochin Shipyard Limited, was recently commissioned in Indian Coast Guard. The 50 metre indigenous FPV displaces 290 tonnes and can achieve a maximum speed of 33 knots with an endurance of 1500 nautical miles at economical speed of 13 knots, equipped with state-of-the-art weaponry and advanced communi-cation and navigational equipment. It is capable of undertaking multifarious close-coast missions such as surveil-lance, interdiction, search and rescue and medical evacuation. The special features of the ship include an Integrat-ed Bridge Management System (IBMS),

Integrated Machinery Control System (IMCS) and an integrated gun mount with indigenous Fire Control System (FCS). The ship will be based at Kochi under the administrative and operational control of the Commander, Coast Guard Region (West). Indian Coast Guard will be a 150 ships/boats and 100 aircraft maritime force in next five years. In addition to these operational assets, a Coastal Surveillance Network is being established with 46 stations to ensure real-time coastal surveillance.

BEL, Textron Systems Sign MoU for MicroObserver UGS SystemBharat Electronics Limited (BEL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Textron Systems Corporation, a Textron Inc. company, for providing the Textron Systems MicroObserver Unat-tended Ground Sensor (UGS) system to Indian security agencies.Rather than showing just a single de-tection alarm, the MicroObserver UGS system provides actionable intelligence by displaying the position, direction and speed of personnel and vehicle threats, making it easier for border management

agencies to locate, identify and intercept them, said the company. Identification of targets is possible with imaging sensors that are triggered by sensor detections. These utilise proven target detection algo-rithms, and generate multiple images that appear as video. It also utilises advanced tracking and seismic detection technol-ogy to significantly reduce false alarms over existing ground sensors.With a self-forming, self-healing network, the MicroObserver UGS system automati-cally self-locates, using its embedded GPS capability, and can be deployed in a matter of minutes, even in cover of darkness. This, along with sensor nodes that deliver a long mission life, significantly reduces the amount of time that border security forces need to spend deploying and maintaining the network, creating a cost-effective solu-tion that requires minimal pre-deployment training, the company added.

Ballistic Missile System for Targeting Aircraft CarriersChina is said to have developed a capability for using land-based ballistic missiles to deter nuclear-powered aircraft carriers of US from coming anywhere near its coast. According to reports, Chi-na’s constellation of satellites and radar give its Anti-Ship Ballistic Missile (ASBM) system a capability to work out the posi-

tion of US aircraft carriers at sea.The country’s constellation of Yaogan mil-itary satellites includes those for electronic intelligence (ELINT). It currently has three clusters of ELINT satellites, and each cluster contains three satellites in a triangular shape which can locate ships producing radio signals with an accuracy of 25 to 100 km. The constellation also includes satellites with optical sensors and radar satellites that can ascertain the position of aircraft carriers with greater accuracy, says the report.

New Missiles and Air Defence System for IranThe Iranian Ministry of Defense is reported to have supplied the Army and the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) with four home-made ballistic missiles and an air defence system, Mersad. The missiles include Fateh-110, Qiyam, Qadr and Khlaije Fars (Persian Gulf ). Long-range ballistic missile, Qadr and mid-range missile, Qiyam are capable of being launched from mobile launchers. The missiles with stealth capabilities, are said to be capable of penetrating missile defence shields.While surface-to-surface Fateh-110 mis-sile has a range of 250-300 km and can carry 500-600 kilogram warhead, Khalije Fars is a supersonic anti-ship ballistic

Integrated Defensive Electronic Warfare Suite (AIDEWS) systems to protect the country’s F-16 fighter aircraft from radio frequency threats. The additional funds provide for the manufacture and delivery of a range of spare AIDEWS components, following successful development and integration flight-testing phases. The AIDEWS components will be pro-duced at the Exelis Electronic Systems (ES) facility in Clifton, US, with deliveries expected to be completed in 2016. ES is the lead division for the company’s elec-tronic warfare strategic growth platform and provides advanced, integrated EW solutions to protect and enable custom-ers to perform their critical missions.

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ASIA PACIFIC

Boeing Announces New Leader for AustraliaThe Boeing Company has named Maureen Dougherty as the President of Boeing Australia and South Pacific. She previously led one of the company’s major defence projects, the US Air Force KC-46A Tanker programme.Dougherty succeeds Ian Thomas, who held the job from 2009. Thomas was named President of Boeing China, based in Beijing, last month. Both appointments will be effective by the end of March.Dougherty will coordinate all Boeing activities and lead the company’s govern-ment relations across the Oceania region. She will be based in Sydney.As vice president and programme man-ager for the KC-46A Tanker programme, Dougherty led multiple Boeing teams to design, develop and manufacture the KC-46 Tanker. Earlier, she was vice pres-ident, Airborne Early Warning & Control (AEW&C). She has also served as vice president for the F-22 programme, an

advanced tactical fighter jointly built by Boeing and Lockheed Martin. Through-out her 30-year career, Dougherty has held a variety of leadership positions on missile, fighter, bomber and military commercial derivative aircraft.

Northrop Grumman Australia Acquires Qantas Defence Services Northrop Grumman Australia Pty Limit-ed, a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corporation, has completed the acqui-sition of Qantas Defence Services Pty Limited, now called Northrop Grumman

Singapore selects A330 MRTT Multi Role Tanker TransportAirbus Defence and Space has been selected by Singapore to supply six A330 MRTT new generation air-to-air refuelling aircraft for the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF).Singapore’s choice of the A330 MRTT makes it the sixth nation to select the type following Australia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom which have ordered a total of 28 aircraft, and India which is in the final stages of contractual negotiations for six aircraft. A total of 17 aircraft are currently in service with the first four nations.The A330 MRTT is derived from the highly successful A330 commercial airliner and proven in-service as a tanker/transport with multi-role capability, as per the company.

Integrated Defence Services Pty Lim-ited (IDS). It is a provider of integrated logistics, sustainment and modernisation support primarily to Australian Govern-ment and military customers. “Northrop Grumman IDS enhances our in-country footprint and local capabili-ties, and demonstrates our commitment to the Australian and regional defence markets. We expect this to be an impor-tant platform for international growth in our key focus areas of unmanned, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernisation,” said Ian Irving, Northrop Grumman Chief Executive for Australia.

DSTO and Lockheed Martin in Research CollaborationThe Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and Lockheed Martin Australia have signed a new strate-gic alliance to collaborate on a range of technologies for strengthening defence and national security.“We have agreed to undertake joint research in a range of areas including predictive logistics, trusted assurance, the Aegis combat system, over the horizon radar, hypersonics and operational analysis,” said Dr Alex Zelinsky, Chief Defence Scientist, DSTO. In recent months, DSTO has been actively pursuing new industry partnerships to increase investment in strategic research. It has recently signed a number of strategic alliances with defence companies including BAE Systems, Thales, SAAB Australia, ASC and IBM.

missile having a range of 300 km. It is equipped with a 650kg explosive warhead and an interception evading guidance system. Mersad is an advanced low to mid-range air defence system which is capable of intercepting ballistic missiles.

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CASE STUDY

Why the Need?Since 2001, Israel, particularly its southern communities, have sustained more than 15,000 rockets, Qassam, Grad and others fired by Hamas, Hizbullah and other such organisations. In 2006, more than 4,500 rockets and missiles were fired into Israel by Hizbullah in the 33-day conflict that caused deaths of dozens of Israelis.

Challenges Israeli industries were tasked to come up with a solution to protect urban areas from high-volume rocket fire. Rafael proposed an Active Defense System consisting of a system that would launch an interceptor at each rocket fired on the defended area. This programme was even-tually approved by the IMOD and became what is known as ‘Iron Dome’. Full-scale development began in December 2007, and the system achieved its first operational intercept in April 2011, in less than three and a half years.

The challenges were concentrated in a

triangle of cost, performance and schedule. As a rule, it is possible to minimise only two of these parameters, and at the expense of the third. In Iron Dome, there were difficult performance goals: a large threat set, 24/7 protection, and a large defended area. Ra-fael had a firm design-to-cost goal: If the in-terceptor costs too much, the enemy would be able to cause significant economic dam-age simply by firing large number of rockets. Finding a way to optimise all three parame-ters was not easy.

Iron Dome It is an advanced defence system, designed for quick detection, discrimination and interception of rockets and mortar threats with ranges of up to and over 70 km and against aircraft, helicopters, UAVs and PGMs. The system is effective in all weather conditions including low clouds, rain, dust storms or fog. It provides robust, yet selective defence. Its ability to discriminate between threats headed towards the de-fended area and those that will fall into the sea and open field reduces costs and limits interceptor launches in vain.

If the estimated rocket trajectory poses a critical threat, a command is given with-in seconds and an interceptor is launched against the threat. The interceptor re-ceives trajectory updates from the BMC via uplink communication. The intercep-tor approaches the target and uses its ra-

dar seeker to acquire the target and guides the interceptor within passing distance. The target warhead is detonated over a neutral area, therefore reducing collateral damage to the protected area.

A single launcher can protect a medium-size city from rockets and mor-tars. Iron Dome uses a unique intercep-tor with a special warhead that detonates the targets in the air within seconds. The system can handle multiple threats simul-taneously and efficiently. The system in-cludes the following components:•   Mobile detection and tracking radar - 

Multi-Mission Radar (MMR) •   Battle Management & Control Unit •   Sensors•   Mobile Missile Firing Unit (MFU) with 

20 interceptors

It meets the following requirements:•   All weather operation•   Effective and selective handling of salvo 

threats aimed at the defended zone•   Threat warhead is detonated on its 

trajectory •   Threats are destroyed outside the 

defended area, during their flight.•   Ignores targets designated outside the 

defended area zone•   Capable of continuous operation day-

night and in all weather conditions •   The system can be connected to high 

echelon Air Situation Picture •   Enables classification of target threat 

families•   The battery with all its components is 

transportable and moveable•   Interceptors are maintenance free with 

life cycle of 15 years

ResultIn April 2011, Iron Dome became bat-tle-proven after it successfully intercepted several Grad rockets that were fired from the Gaza Strip at southern Israel. Since then, Iron Dome has shot down more than 500 rockets. It was a major success during operation ‘Pillar of Defense’ in November 2012, in which it intercepted 421 rockets that were fired at southern and central Israel, with success rates of over 80 per cent (as reported by the Israeli Air Force).

The system has been modified numerous times based upon lessons learnt in operational use, and on new requirements. In January 2013, Rafael conducted further field tests to verify the system’s upgraded capabilities. The test was declared successful.

The Protective Shieldisrael’s anti-missile defence system counters the threats posed by rocket attacks from across the border

Credit: Wikipedia

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Special OperationsGeoInt Essential for

the changing face of warfare has necessitated the need to build Special operations Forces (SoF). these forces are capable of carrying out missions which are beyond the capacity of conventional forces. For the successful conduct of such missions, SoF require actionable intelligence

While the necessity to move forward quickly on estab-lishing a tri-services spe-cial operations command

or controlling headquarters that would be responsible for all SOF is inescapable, there is also an urgent need to fully comprehend the capacities required to be developed simultaneously that will ensure our SOF are fully capable of undertaking missions suc-cessfully. In this, geoint capabilities are of utmost importance given not only the vast spectrum of operations from counter terror to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) neutralisation that they may be required to undertake but also the time critical nature of their employment.

Before focussing on the requirements of the SOF in this regard, it is best to un-derstand what geoint implies. It has been

defined as “actionable knowledge, a pro-cess, and a profession. It is the ability to describe, understand and interpret so as to anticipate the human impact of an event or action within a spatiotemporal environment.” In more simplistic terms, in context of the military professional, it is an analysis of data, information, and knowl-edge gathered about enemies (or poten-tial enemies) for a specific purpose that can be referenced to a particular location on, above, or below the earth’s surface.

SOF carries out high risk high impact missions that are beyond the capacity of conventional forces. These missions can lead to extremely high payoffs and can be game changers if successful. However, they are not only time critical but also require specific and specialised intelligence inputs that are not of critical concern either to in-

telligence agencies or political and military hierarchies under normal circumstances. It is axiomatic therefore that the more ex-tensive the availability of ‘actionable intel-ligence’, the more accurate and detailed the planning process and higher the chances of success. This also enables the SOF and military leadership to better understand the consequences and implications of the mission being planned so that the political hierarchy can make reasoned judgments and give executive decisions within the required time frame.

SOF and the USTo understand how geoint capability has become essential in SOF operations, it would be illuminating to focus on the US capability as it is undoubtedly the best in terms of funding, technology and mission

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under normal

circumstances

profiles. The least known and most classi-fied unit within the realm of the US Special Operations is the Intelligence Support Ac-tivity (ISA), a small, highly trained and ca-pable intelligence unit that operates under the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). This secretive unit tends to regu-larly change its designation, it was known as ‘Gray Fox’ till the Iraq invasion and is now reportedly known as ‘Ranger1’. De-spite very limited information on the sub-ject available in the public domain, some historical and operational details have emerged that give some idea as to their organisation and tasking. The ISA’s origins are in the Field Operations Group (FOG) that was set up within the US Special Forc-es in the 1979 (after Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza was overthrown) for the purpose of surveying the US embassy. Operators from the unit entered Nicaragua using false passports, and proceeded to photograph the embassy from every angle, record the types of locks on all doors, inside and outside, record the number of exits and windows, and finally drew up the internal layout of the building. The survey was successful, which led defence officials to create an ad hoc Special Forces unit to survey US embassies in hotspots around the world so as to ensure suitable data was available if any counter terror intervention was ever required to be undertaken.

After the abortive rescue attempt during the Iranian hostage crisis in 1980, Operation Eagle Claw, a second operation was set in motion. However, in order to deal with the intelligence failures noticed in the earlier operation and to ensure sufficient action-able intelligence was available to the SOF, FOG was expanded and made into a 100 man unit, with USD 7 million budget under Colonel Jerry King. In view of its growing importance, it was renamed as the ISA. It has subsequently been involved in a num-ber of missions that have involved SOF led actions worldwide. It is rumoured that the ISA has played a key role in a number of high profile operations over the years such as the assassination of the Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar in 1989, the abortive attempt to capture Farah Aidid in Somalia (the famous Black Hawk down incident), the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and also in the recent killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. There are unconfirmed reports that state that in ‘Operation Nep-tune Spear’, its team members were in a safe house down the street from the Osama compound. They were the ones who fig-

ured out that the house had no telephone or internet connection and also confirmed his presence in the house. They cut the power to the neighborhood, disabled the phone lines, and jammed all cell phone communi-cations while SEAL Team 6 was inbound to carry out the mission.

The unit is presently organised into administration, training, SIGINT, HUMINT and direct action elements. The force is supposedly around 250-275 oper-ators, who excel in intelligence gathering, languages and electronic surveillance. It is said to operate in three components of which one is embedded with the US Rapid Deployment Forces under XVIII Airborne Corps, the second component is embedded with the US Special Opera-tions Command and the third component meant primarily for ‘black’ operations functions either independently or in con-junction with the CIA’s paramilitary Spe-cial Operations Group or Delta Force. The direct action element reportedly trains with Delta Force and DEVGRU (SEAL Team 6) to maintain their skills. It also has its own air assets for ELINT and EW operations and is directly linked to the NSA and the DIA which provide embed-ded elements real-time electronic and satellite information. The effectiveness of this organisation has resulted in the UK establishing a similar organisation, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) and the 18th Signal Regiment.

The Indian ScenarioIn the context of India’s SOF, the unified headquarters apart from being respon-sible for the range of military units that it has such as the Parachute Brigade, PARA, PARA (SF), MARCOS and GARUD along with special operations air assets belonging to the army and the air force must also be responsible for counter terrorism operations. In this context, the elements of the National Security Guard (NSG) other than the Special Ranger Groups (SRG) should also be placed under command of this headquarter. The SRG’s should be located regionally under respective State Police so that they are able to respond and provide the outer cordon within an acceptable time frame. Their selection and training can howev-er continue to be organised at the NSG Training Centre at Manesar.

In addition, a suitable composite com-munication and intelligence unit with the requisite capability to not only provide

secure communications to units and de-tachments but also to carry out signal in-telligence, cell phone interception, track-ing and jamming along with direct access and linkages to the NTRO and DIA must be established on lines similar to what the US and UK have. It must also have suitable geoint analysts on its rolls. Such a capabil-ity will enable our SOF to be provided with specific actionable real-time intelligence of the type they require to carry out their missions effectively. Such a suitably tai-lored geoint capability with a responsive chain of command capable of providing advice to the political and military hierar-chy at the highest levels will help develop an environment in which critical politi-co-military decisions can be taken with confidence and executed successfully in a timely manner.

References1. Bacastow, T.S, and Bellafiore, D.J; Redefining

Geospatial Intelligence; American Intelligence

Journal, Fall 2009, Pp 38-40

2. Schroder, Ed; Duty Honor Country: Kill Capture

or do Nothing; Damnation Books LLC; 2013

http://www.eliteukforces.info/

By Brig Deepak Sinha (Retd) An author of the book, Beyond the Bayonet: Indian Special Operations Forces in the 21st Century, Gyan Books 2006, he is currently a consultant with the Observer Research Foundation

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Extending the ReachExtending the Reachlogistics forms the backbone of any operations. ensuring logistics support to forces in-theatre is a complex process. this becomes more challenging when support has to be provided to Special operations Forces involved in out-of-Area contingency operations

Special Operations Forces (SOF) is a term primarily used in the West. It is an all encompassing term that defines a nation’s specialised

units. Out-of-Area Contingency Opera-tions (OOAC) are those military missions that are conducted beyond the borders of a country. These include, but are not restricted to, humanitarian assistance and military assistance either sought by friendly nations or offered in combating security related issues and in disaster relief. The contingencies would also cover protection of national interests and citizens. It has often been the duty of the Indian government to ensure the physical safety of this diaspora in the face of con-flicts or natural disasters. As a result, we need capabilities to evacuate our citizens.

As an emerging power in the Indo-Pa-cific region, India could be urged to use its special forces for political objectives. Also, at times, the Indian military has been de-ployed for security operations for instance, in anti-piracy operations off the coast of Somalia and in overseas humanitarian and disaster relief operations. In light of its capabilities and possible overseas role, the Indian military has been called a net security provider in the region. These forc-es would be deployed in specific circum-stances and, in the years to come, under a joint command under the overall aegis of the Integrated Defence Staff.

India’s Special Forces could be used for both external and internal counter-insur-gency and counter-terrorism operations. As an emerging power, India is looking

to expand its strategic priorities. Accord-ingly, there is a growing understanding among India’s wider strategic communi-ty including the armed forces that situa-tions requiring Indian intervention will emerge, especially in the troubled atolls of the South Asian sub-region. In such sit-uations, where the armed forces might be deployed beyond India’s borders, the pref-erence will be to use élite forces capable of operating under a single command.

Logistics considerations including stocking, resupply and quick movement of men and material are vital for OOAC operations. In effect, the operating range of the special forces will be shaped to a significant extent by logistic supplies. Ef-ficiency in logistics is a key success fac-tor, because it ensures the smooth flow of

lOGISTICS

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goods and services in a complex supply chain. Logistics plays a key role in disaster response operations.

Special Operations Forces (SOF) RequirementsOut-Of-Area Operations include inter-vention, humanitarian relief and UN Peace Keeping. India being a rising power cannot keep itself away from internation-al military intervention. SOF are unique because they provide the government a broad range of capabilities. The demands of special operations require forces with attributes that distinguish them from conventional forces. SOF personnel undergo careful selection processes and mission-specific training beyond basic military skills. These programmes make unlikely any rapid replacement or generation of personnel or capabilities. The personnel maintain a high level of competency in more than one military specialty and are regionally oriented for employment. SOF operations are frequently clandestine in nature to ensure mission success. Much of the equipment used by SOF is normally designed or modified to meet specific operational requirements. As such, SOF equipment is often delivered in small quantities and is difficult and costly to repair and replace. Therefore, logistics support considera-tions in OOAC operations are critical for mission success.

The Indian armed forces have a wide experience of HADR operations both at home and abroad, where they have been the core of relief operations. Due to its sub-continental size, geographi-cal location and its vulnerability to dis-asters, India has kept its forces ready to render assistance at short notice. In over six decades since independence, India has experienced a number of natural and man-made disasters such as floods, earthquakes, famines, industrial acci-dents, etc. At the same time, India has partnered with the global community in providing relief in affected regions. As In-dia moves to occupy an important posi-tion in the global community, it is in the process of bolstering its capabilities to match the rising expectations.

Logistics Support in SOF OperationsThere are broadly four factors which are essential for successful Special Opera-tions. First, clear national and theater

strategic objectives. Second, effective command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) support at the operational level. Third, competent tactical planning and execution; and fourth, a force trained, equipped and organised to conduct such operations. Military planning and preparation of plans are integral parts of the sequence of actions in making and executing a deci-sion. Planning for anticipated contingen-cies is normally deliberate and formal, but emergency situations may dictate an acceleration of the planning process.

Logistics plans provide the essential in-gredients which make military operation plans realistic. The essence of logistics plan-ning involves the determination of supply, services, transportation, maintenance, construction and related logistics require-ments, and the determination of existing capability to meet these requirements. Un-derstanding of the basic considerations of logistics planning, defined below, is a nec-essary element in the development of effec-tive planning procedures.• Lead time: Lead time is considered to

be the time between action taken to obtain an item for use and arrival of the item in the hands of the user.

•   Limited resources: Resources includ-ing personnel, material and money are always limited. Hence optimal resource management is essential.

•   Critical shortages: The logistics planner and the logistics system must expect a situation when there will be

critical shortage. Extraordinary and emergency measures must be taken to correct the shortage.

•   Priorities-allocations-reserves: Since resources are always limited, systems of priorities and allocations are estab-lished reflecting command judgments of military value and essentiality.

•   Under-plan-over plan: Under plan-ning, whether a result of poor esti-mates, misunderstanding, improper application of good planning factors or proper application of poor plan-ning factors, creates a critical shortage which eventually manifests itself in over-planning.

•   Coordination-communication: Constant exchange of information and coordination, with real communication and understanding, are vital to the command so all elements of command can bring about military success.

•   Flexibility: The plan must provide for enough flexibility to permit the com-mander and the staff to meet various situations which may arise as a result of an action by an opponent.

•   Adequacy-suitability-feasibility: The courses of action open to a commander to meet the situation which exists, or might develop, must be considered in terms of adequacy, suitability and feasibility.

Each of the foregoing logistics consider-ations demand that command control must be exercised with sound judg-ment, understanding, competence and restraint. Logistics estimates and logistics plans are dependent on availability of readily usable information and planning factors and on the skill and judgment with which these are used by the planner to solve military problems successfully.

Scope and Importance of Humanitarian LogisticsThe supply chain for humanitarian relief preparedness involves assessment, appeals, resource mobilisation, transpor-tation, execution, procurement, tracking and tracing, stock/ asset management, extended point of delivery and perfor-mance evaluation. Logistics is central to disaster relief for several reasons. First, it serves as a bridge between disaster pre-paredness and response, between pro-curement and distribution, and between headquarters and the field. Second, it is crucial to the effectiveness and speed of response for major humanitarian

SOF operations

are clandestine in

nature to ensure

mission success.

As such, SOF

equipment is often

delivered in small

quantities and is

difficult and costly

to repair and replace

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programmes, such as health, food, shel-ter, water and sanitation. It can be one of the most expensive parts of a relief effort. Third, since the logistics department handles tracking of goods through the supply chain, it is often the repository of data that can be analysed to provide post-event learning.

Every year, there are approximately 150,000 deaths and 200 million people affected by natural disasters and human-itarian crises. Natural disasters alone, which include events such as earth-quakes, famines and floods, result in the temporary displacement of approximate-ly five million people. The number of dis-placed people from humanitarian crises such as civil conflict and war is even larg-er, with an average of 13 million refugees and 20 million internally displaced peo-ple each year.

Broadly, following points could be identified for further development, seek-ing a better performance in the process of distributing supplies in humanitarian actions for natural disasters. Transport: It is essential to undertake a survey of transport service providers, as well as government entities or private or-ganisations with fleets available that can assist in case of humanitarian operations, identifying the types of vehicles and their capabilities. In general, humanitarian operations largely use road and air trans-port. However, we must evaluate how best to use other modes including water and transportation by helicopters in order to more efficiently support distribution activities in both the strategy of shipment and logistical support to the operation. Storage and Handling: Goods received as domestic and international donations require proper storage and arrangement as supply kits to facilitate the distribution. At these points, the following actions occur: storage, handling and screening to identify unwanted or rejected material, shipment and discharge of material re-jected. In points with incoming interna-tional donations, it will be necessary to have a staff with knowledge of customs clearance, in order to avoid congestion at the entry point. It should also notify potential points for storage, belonging to government entities or private organisa-tions, as well as identify the availability of equipment such as forklifts and pallet conveyors which can be mobilised in the shortest time possible.

Distribution: The definition of the number of distribution points should be made to minimise the distance to the beneficiar-ies and they should be placed in com-munity centres already established and meeting places. An efficient distribution programme requires information data about the goods available and the people affected. The use of military activities in cargo handling and access roads clearance facilitates the humanitarian mission.

Current Bottlenecks in Logistics SupportAs discussed above, the special operations require dedicated and spe-cialised logistics support. Despite years of experience in out-of-area operations, there is a lack of regional and area spe-cialisation in the Indian Armed Forces. Also, there is a need for greater clarity on the role of the armed forces vis-à-vis the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) during preparation for HADR operations. Robust contingency plans need to be created to be able to rapidly cope with changing political dynamics. A tri-service Rapid Reaction Force, with a command culture based on mission oriented tactics and logistics capabilities, would aid an effective overall military and political strategy. In terms of military capability, the wish list includes addition-al deployment and lift capacities, better strategic communication, adequate train-ing and preparation for contingencies, and improved logistics. A study of natural disasters, actions taken and lessons learnt would help in developing a national dis-aster strategy and plan.

There is also a need for a Special Oper-ations Command (SOC), to bring together the existing special forces of the Indian Army, Navy, Air Force and other relevant agencies under a unified command and control structure to execute strategic or politico-military operations in tune with India’s national security objectives.

ConclusionThe capability for operating further from India’s borders to undertake OOAC op-erations is presently limited by logistical and sustenance issues. Currently there appears to be inadequate consideration of the logistical chain. Accordingly, it is recommended that pre-positioning of stores be planned both on the West-ern and Eastern sea boards. It is also

desirable that certain specialised and surveillance equipment be installed at the Andaman and Nicobar islands to enhance the reach of operations. In addition, India should explore the diplo-matic and strategic feasibility of signing logistical supply arrangements with other countries. This will increase the operating range of the Indian military. The Indo-US Logistics Support Agreement is a signifi-cant step in this direction.

The reach of current air- and sea-lift capabilities limit our present OOAC oper-ations largely within the Indian Ocean re-gion (IOR). Realising this, India is acquir-ing new capabilities for enhancing both its airlift and sealift capabilities. A major thrust of the ongoing review pertains to enhancing strategic reach and develop-ing OOAC capabilities stretching from the Persian Gulf to the Malacca Straits together with matching logistics support capabilities.

Regarding HADR operations, there is a need to understand common logistical problems to identify a set of the best prac-tices in the immediate response phase of a humanitarian operation. The crossing of experiences and best practices will allow the identification of important points for the exchange and development of shared solutions. Today’s underdeveloped state of logistics in the humanitarian sector is much like what corporate logistics was twenty years ago. At that time, corporate logistics suffered from underinvestment, a lack of recognition, and the absence of a fulfilling, professional career path for people performing logistics function. Cor-porate logistics has now found its voice with top management. Under the rubric of supply chain management, it has estab-lished itself as a core discipline whose best practices are taught and researched at top business schools. A similar approach for humanitarian logistics is required for effective OOAC logistics support.

By Gp Capt JV Singh (Retd) singh_jitendravikram@yahoo.com

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OpiniOn

Special Operations and GISindian government recently approved a proposal to set a tri-service

Special operations command. in this article, the author takes a look at the preparedness of forces and stresses upon the need for india to build its

geotech infrastructure

Geographic Information System (GIS) is crucial to modern war simply because no weapon system or for that

matter, any operational information sys-tem (OIS) can be optimised without ap-propriate GIS. The confluence of GIS with OIS and management information system (MIS) is essential for capacity building for acquiring network centric warfare (NCW) capabilities. It is therefore, axiomatic that GIS is crucial to special operations.

Modern War Rapid advancements in technology have revolutionised warfare. Battlefield trans-parency has made forces more vulnerable. The range and lethality of weapons have increased exponentially and the time factor has been greatly telescoped. Technology has ushered in stand-off and smart weap-ons and directed energy weapons that may be based on platforms on ground, sea, air and space. Cyber war has the potential of paralysing the adversary even before war is declared. Then are the rising costs of war, the pinch of which is felt by even a super-power like America. A report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, USA, dated January 14, 2013 mentioned that the cost of the US war in Afghanistan for the period 2001-2013 totalled up to an incredi-ble USD 641.7 billion. Concurrent to all this has been the rise of asymmetric and proxy wars wherein the use of irregular forces has become the norm, their strategic impor-tance overshadowing conventional and even nuclear forces, which are now being exploited even by powerful countries like the US and China. The lethality of irregular forces lies in the fact that they operate in a battlefield that is without borders and these forces defy all rules and regulations. War between two conventional forces has not been fought after the 2005 Russia-Georgia War and recent years have witnessed even the US and NATO forces battling irregular forces. It can therefore be surmised that the

domains of ‘sub-conventional’, ‘cyberspace’ and ‘electromagnetic’ are becoming in-creasingly important over the ‘convention-al’ and ‘nuclear’ in the conflict spectrum. Enhanced importance of the ‘sub-conven-tional’ automatically calls for increased requirement of special operations.

Special Operations‘Special Operations’ is a term that gets mentioned in generic manner. These are operations that are typically performed independently or in conjunction with conventional military operations. Howev-er, this description needs to be viewed in the backdrop of conventional conflict be-coming rare, as discussed above. Hence, within the ambit of ‘special operations’ are the more focussed operations which are undertaken essentially by special forces. Such special operations are be-coming increasingly important because of the threat posed by irregular forces.

Special Operations and GeoIntGeoint comprises imagery, imagery intelli-gence (IMINT) and geospatial information. The full utility of geoint comes from the integration of all three, which results in more comprehensive, tailored geospatial intelligence products for meeting the wider requirements of the military, especially in execution of special operations. Geoint supports special operations, giving them the ability to rapidly respond to threats providing geo-referenced visual and data products that serve as foundation and com-mon frame of reference. These products include interactive maps, virtual flythrough and walk-through mission scenarios.

US and NATOUS-NATO forces operate in areas other than their own countries; geospatial coverage is focussed on area of operation other than homeland. Post 9/11, the US undertook major restructuring of government agen-cies and formation of National Geospa-

tial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) by merging in it elements of CIA, Defence Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Or-ganization (NRO), State Department, etc. Within the US, the US Geological Survey is responsible for survey and mapping, base data at scale of 1:24K, which is available on internet. Data for operational areas on foreign soil is prepared by agencies like NGA / Army Geospatial Centre (AGC). More importantly, geospatial data is provided by a single source (NGA-AGC) and interoperability pan military is ensured through common standards, protocols and Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Other major nations too are restruc-turing to establish agencies dealing with this important aspect of intelligence. While we may not draw comparisons with US in terms of infrastructure at this stage, we will surely have to reach a bare minimum level to match our status as an emerging regional power including in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR).

Indian military

still does not have

an Enterprise GIS.

DIA is the central

repository for all

intelligence inputs

pertaining to the

three services.

However, it is yet to

integrate the aspects

of topography

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OpiniOn

Geointelligence in AfghanistanIn Afghanistan, NGA provides the base data which is supplemented by the AGC. Imagery and elevation are through the BuckEye programme; colour imagery (48 mega pixel) at 10-15 centimetres resolu-tion and LiDAR based elevation data with one metre resolution. Situational updates like IED incidents and deployments are forwarded by users up the chain for consolidation at regional HQs. Geoint cells are located at each HQ. Engineer detachments use ‘ENFIRE’ to collect data. Collated data from all sources is used to refine digital maps, and is issued to units at a frequency of three months.

Indian SceneIndian military still does not have an Enterprise GIS. The Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) is the central repository for all intelligence inputs pertaining to the three services including IMINT and Elec-tronic Intelligence (ELINT). However, it is yet to integrate the aspects of topography with the DIA. Within the existing setup, adequate resources in terms of remote sensing, ELINT payloads and cartogra-phy are not available to produce high quality fused data. The National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) has been a good initiative but its networking with concerned government agencies relevant to geospatial database and updates is still catching up. More importantly, NSDI deals with only some aspects pertaining to creation of metadata of available geo-spatial data and does not cater to inputs from intelligence community or for that matter the defence services. In spite of the recommendations of the Kargil Re-view Committee (KRC) as well as Group of Ministers (GoP) on issues related to streamlining the intelligence agencies in the country, a lot of work is yet to be done on fusion of intelligence data. While the DIA, NSDI and National Technical Re-search Organization (NTRO) have been established, such steps are insufficient to deal with aspects pertaining to geoint.

India’s National Map Policy 2005 defines two series of incompatible maps; Defence Series Maps (DSM) based on WGS 84 / LCC and Open Series Maps (OSM) based on WGS 84 / UTM. There is no mention an-ywhere of the elevation system to be used — whether it should be WGS 84 or anoth-er. Moreover, the policy does not cover the nautical and aeronautical charts. The policy

is restricted to small scale maps and is silent on responsibility for attribute collection. The overall implications are that the coun-try has two incompatible projections and associated different grids will be an oper-ational nightmare. Similarly, the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) is vested with the authority to acquire and dissem-inate remote sensing data. All data of reso-lutions up to one metre is distributed on a non-discriminatory basis. All data better than one metre resolution is to be screened and cleared by appropriate agency prior to distribution. This policy also talks of specific sales / non-disclosure agreements for data better than one metre resolution. The impli-cations of this policy are that it places undue restrictions on genuine users even though point five resolution data is available in the public domain through Google Earth, etc

The fact is that much better spatial data is available in public domain and by extension to our adversaries. Also, restrictions are im-posed on connecting applications (used by security forces) with internet. There is undue security concern on base geospatial data. There is no mechanism to exchange geospa-tial data amongst the various agencies. We have separate agencies for topographic data and remote sensing with no data interfaces between the two. Finally, there is no clear area of interest defined or agencies tasked to prepare and update spatial data. Efforts per-taining to geospatial data and intelligence within the three services need to be inte-grated to help field a fully functional C4I2 system. Individual service approach cannot

suffice. No automated battlefield manage-ment system can be fully exploited unless quality data is provided to it as an input. Our efforts to enable production of geoint would meet most of the data requirements of both C4I2 as well as Tactical C3I Systems of the three services. The need to bring in-telligence and geospatial information under aegis of one single agency cannot be under estimated and should not be relegated to a later day. While GIS for special operations is still some distance away, the NCW capabil-ity essential to optimise special operations appears a decade away.

ConclusionWhile the need for India to bridge the sub-conventional conflict capability was never more, it needs to optimise special operations through the spectrum of conflict, providing an enterprise GIS and requisite C4I2SR capability to the forces at the earliest.

Cre

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:1.b

p.bl

ogsp

ot.c

om

By Lt Gen PC Katoch (Retd) prakashkatoch7@gmail.com

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Providing the

Winning EdgeUS Special Forces are quickly adopting and deploying the latest

advancements in geospatial intelligence

Special forces are quickly adopting and deploying the latest advance-ments in geospatial intelligence ‘including those that provide

quick access to digital maps, satellite imagery and more’ to gain better situa-tional awareness as they carry out their missions in often remote corners of the

world, according to several companies that are providing the tools.

“The Sp Ops community is a very im-portant and unique customer for TerraGo,” said John Timar, Vice President of Sales for TerraGo Technologies, an Atlanta-based firm which provides a variety of geospa-tial intelligence and location-based tools.

“The special operations community, as a whole, is a rapidly growing component of our business. Right now, a little bit of everything we have to offer is deployed somewhere in the special operations community.”

These cutting-edge tools are intended to get as much data as possible into the

Credit: www.usarmy.vo.llnwd.net/

Technology

Technology

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hands of special operators, who may be working in very austere, and often band-width-constrained environments.

That’s the case with a new handheld version of Jagwire from Rochester, New York-based ITT Exelis Geospatial Systems. Jagwire allows users to manage critical geospatial information across shared and mobile networks in environments where bandwidth is limited, according to Jim Phillips, Director of the Exelis Geospatial Intelligence Solutions business area.

The idea behind Jagwire is to enable us-ers like special operators “to get to the area that they’re in, and have a high-resolution look, in a period which could be less than a minute,” Phillips said, adding, “Special op-erators who would use the product would say, ‘Well, we want to knock on that door, but before we do, we want to look at how we are going in and how we are going to get out.’ We could drill down into that data and get a very good look at their target.”

Jagwire is used by the air force, army and special forces to make tactical situa-tional awareness and intelligence available to “people in austere environments who have low bandwidth connections, maybe intermittent connections, or connections with a lot of latency in them,” he explained. “We are all about passing on as much infor-mation as we can, given the available envi-ronment, which is an austere environment. Our users are typically the very pointy end of the spear: special forces, marines, rang-ers, and in some cases, the navy.”

Jagwire transmits satellite imagery, video and other types of geospatial intelli-gence, and “allows our users to get access to all of this data, which is collected from all over the world,” Phillips added. “We’re not an archive, not a long-term storage. There are other systems that do that. Our product is not so much for analysts, we’re more for the people conducting the fight. The handheld version has been in de-mand for quite some time.”

That new handheld communicates over typical cellphone connections and allows users in the ground forces to re-ceive data, take images and video (wheth-er they’re connected at that moment or not), and then transmit that back when they are connected again, Phillips said.

It also provides users a variety of data, such as that from the National Geospa-tial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), Army, and other government agencies. “If you can get a SIPRNet account, which all

special forces can, you have access to all of that data instead of just one particular piece of stove piped data”, he said.

Technology Creating Operational EfficienciesNew geoint technologies are driving individual analysts and special operators more efficient and effective at a time when military is reeling under budget cuts and other pressures, Timar said.

Doing more with less is important for reasons beyond a reduced budget: Look-ing at the optempo over the last decade will indicate turnovers and retirements in the coming years. “You’re going to face turno-ver challenges from operational fatigue, an environment with more austere budgets, and retirements,” Timar said. “The world’s not becoming a more stable, safer place; there are more requirements for the US to defend its interests and pursue national security in remote parts of the globe. Tech-nologies that are cost-effective, that allow you to add efficiencies and make any one analyst or operator more productive, are the things that we need.”

TerraGo offers a product known as GeoPDF, which Timar describes as a geo-spatial version of the well-known PDF for-mat used to share a variety of documents.

“It’s a very interesting intelligence con-tainer. It allows you to put all sorts of com-plex data inside a PDF and make it action-able and dynamic in either a connected or disconnected environment,” he said. “You can take a map, and you can overlay all sorts of intelligence information on that map. Then you can turn that map into this small, nimble file called a GeoPDF. You can then interact with it dynamically in the field or wherever you are — on a desktop or mobile device.”

The GeoPDF has become a frequently used tool, Timar said, noting that NGA “has created over a million GeoPDF products.”

GeoPDF is well-suited for special op-erators who need as much information as possible in remote areas without ac-cess to the biggest systems, he said. “All the people back at headquarters have the best satellite imagery in the world, but the people who need it can’t get it. That’s why GeoPDF is a fantastic technology, because it allows you to have an actionable prod-uct that’s easy to disseminate,” he added.

Meanwhile, Pixia Corp., a software and information-technology provider located near Washington, D.C., has deployed its

HiPER Look system to streamline the ac-cess of geospatial intelligence at US Spe-cial Operations Command Africa, based in Stuttgart, Germany, according to Hector Cuevas, Pixia’s Director of ISR operations.

“To be able to take all of the commer-cial imagery of Africa and have it at the fin-gertips of an Army operator or SEAL oper-ator, you would literally be driving around with a truck full of servers. At SOC-Afri-ca-Stuttgart, we’ve taken all that data and put it on a central server in Stuttgart on the SOC Africa secret domain,” he said.

Pixia’s system is changing the assump-tion that special operators must “go to a website and download individual files,” Cuevas said. With HiPER Look, special operators can say, “I’m going to Mali; I only need data for Mali. So get it to me on a storage device, very efficiently and very quickly.” As these guys go out the door, that data brick will act as their own little server on their devices when they’re forward, he said. The staff of SOC Africa are now us-ing one server “that has the latest version of whatever they needed,” whether that is a map data, commercial imagery, or any other data, Cuevas said. “It’s a little bit of a game-changer because you had 15 to 20 different silos of SOC Africa of the same dataset. Now they’ve brought it all into one and they quickly have access to the latest data that’s put on the server,” he added.

Reacting to Operational Needs in Real-Time“Much more is available and expected from geospatial intelligence today than just a few years ago,” according to Rob Buntz, Director of geospatial solutions at L-3 National Secu-rity Solutions-Stratis, a provider of intelli-gence and other information-technology

Technologies that

are cost-effective,

that allow you to

add efficiencies and

make an analyst

or operator more

productive, are the

things that we need

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systems located near Washington, D.C.The data available today is “orders of magnitude better than it was a short time ago,” Buntz said, but the need for preci-sion and accuracy has increased. “Of course, the stakes are a lot higher when you are delivering geospatial anal-ysis results that are supporting a mission that might be happening right now”.

Access and use of imagery and other geospatial-intelligence data is now in re-al-time, Buntz said. “I remember earlier in my career when we used to get excit-ed over a 30-metre, multispectral satel-lite image that had been captured a year ago. Now we’re dealing with much higher spatial resolution, hyperspectral data and LiDAR data deployed tactically in more or less real-time fashion,” he said.

Analysts and others looking at the data, particularly for the special forces, also must react much more quickly than ever before.

“We literally are reacting to the op-erational needs at that time,” said James Moore, Programme Manager, managing the special operations imagery contract at L-3. “You know that if you don’t get that intelligence out to the SOF operator, then he may or may not know what’s out there in the field. The stakes really are higher.” At L-3, “there really is not a part of the process we do not touch — from sensor develop-ment, aircraft integration, maintenance of aircraft, sensor operators, and intelligence and geospatial analysts,” Moore said.

As such, the company knows that no one company or organisation can drive innovation in geospatial intelligence tech-nology. That’s why collaboration and part-

nership is so important, he added.“None of us are going to be able to find

the solution working in a stovepipe. So it really is taking an unbiased approach out in industry, and finding the best solutions that we can deliver and keep our SOF war-riors safe,” Moore said.

L-3 maintains partnerships with a number of R&D organisations, including North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech and the Riverside Research Institute, a non-profit research organisation based in New York City. One of the largest chal-lenges is simply the huge amount of ‘big data’ available in so many formats and from so many sources, Moore said.

“You must have data that has a shelf life longer than just one day. So how do you store it in a capacity that gives life to the data, so as you’re running your analysis and algorithms across this data, you’re able to actually go back and say, ‘Well, what was happening there yesterday? What was happening there last week, or two months ago, or last year?’”

L-3 is developing a solution based on an “open architecture, so that as technolo-gy changes, you don’t have to recreate the wheel” as opposed to a proprietary system that would cost customers “millions and millions to continually re-develop as tech-nology changes,” he said.

Finding the Right DataBut what if the geospatial intelligence you need isn’t already in an easily usable or digestible form? What if the coordinates a special operator needs are buried within a mass of emails, or some other documents?

That’s where a company called ClearTer-ra and its Locate XT software come in, said Jeff Wilson, Vice President of Sales. “We bring locations in unstructured data into map applications in a structured form,” he said. Frequently, “there are a lot of geospa-tial coordinates floating around in emails, messages, documents, and briefings.”

It’s very common to have intelligence reports referencing military grid reference locations, including locations in which an insurgent was picked up along a road, or where an improvised explosive device might be, or where a mortar attack oc-curred, Wilson said.

“A lot of this stuff lies in the form of text. We want the Sp Ops person to find bad guys. What we don’t want them doing is reading through documents and realising there’s spatial references, and then have to fat-finger those into a system, or plot them on a map,” he said. “We like to have geeks like us build tools that can find that geospatial data and plot it on a map very quickly so they can react fast, and get back to doing the analysis or catching the bad guys instead of doing manual busywork.”

Whether it’s a PowerPoint presenta-tion or a folder of 300 or 400 messages, ClearTerra’s software scans it and finds var-ious coordinate patterns, looking for “every format we’ve ever heard of or seen,” Wilson said. Like other technologies, special oper-ators can use Locate XT quickly and in the sorts of austere, remote locations they typi-cally find themselves, he said.

“Our tools work on demand, and they work for what you often call the edge of the network. You can have a guy with a laptop sitting in the middle of nowhere, and have some PowerPoint or some word document, which wasn’t really important yesterday but which is now, all of a sud-den, the most important information of the day. He can do something with our software right then and there, and not have to wait for this document to find its way into a document-management sys-tem or some other larger-scale system,” he said.

By Ed SchroederThe writer is a defence expert. His articles are avaialble at http://militarywritersasso-ciation.wordpress.com. The above article is posted at Ed Schroeder’s Military Intelligence Daily, and has been republished with the permission of the author.

Jagwire transmits satellite imagery, video and other types of geospatial intelligence

Product Watch

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Cloud-based Solutionfor Situational Awareness

Special operations are mission specific and hence require precise information. Jagwire caters to this mission requirements

What if your entire chain of command could discover exactly what they need, at the specific moment

they need it, to make mission critical de-cisions? The Jagwire solution from Exelis makes the discovery, management and dissemination of geospatial data and vid-eo easier than ever. In the enterprise, or in a forward deployed scenario, Jagwire is both a force multiplier and an intelli-gence aggregator. With a web-enabled, single, unified interface for accessing multiple modalities, INT types and other geospatial intelligence, Jagwire can ex-tend the reach of end users ensuring that everyone who needs access can get it.

For years it has been actively used by defence community including special op-erations forces, providing on-demand situa-tional awareness when and where they need it. In many cases, special operations forces use Jagwire’s Full Motion Video (FMV) ca-pabilities. Not only can Jagwire provide them with near-real-time live video feeds, but it can also provide on-the-fly transcod-ing of the video. This allows operators under constrained network environments to mod-ify the video’s profile (that is, resolution, frame rate) providing them with access to the necessary information under mission bandwidth restrictions. In addition, annota-tion capabilities within Jagwire’s video play-er allow users to add textual references to the video. These are time-synced to the vid-eo’s metadata and enable every user within the enterprise to search for specific portions of the mission by using keyword searches delivering only what is relevant to them. Operational chat rooms during missions can also be time-synced and like manual annotations, make the videos discoverable by what was communicated via chat. From providing live feeds to archived feeds for forensic review, Jagwire adds value to every mission by delivering critical information ensuring mission success.

Jagwire is also capable of delivering

high-resolution imagery because its ar-chitecture is specifically optimised to de-liver high-performance capabilities on low-bandwidth and high-latency networks, including dissemination to handheld de-vices using a standard called JPEG2000 Interactive Protocol (JPIP) streaming. JPIP streaming provides users with rapid access to imagery; even those in forward deployed and/or austere environments.

ScalableJagwire scales in response to mission requirements, from enterprise environ-ments supporting multiple simultaneous missions and a large number of distributed users down to a tactical laptop or even mo-bile devices. Jagwire’s ground suite offers a deployable solution comprising a rugge-dised server which supports up to four different FMV feeds. It is often deployed in a mobile ground station capturing and

archiving live feeds from aerial platforms and providing visualisation capabilities ensuring ‘eyes-on-target’ throughout the mission. These systems are ready to deploy at a moment’s notice and adapt to ever-changing mission needs making it a high-value asset for special operation units.

Federated Search and DiscoveryAdding more value to the mission, Jagwire has a federated architecture meaning that if two or more Jagwire systems are deployed within the same network, all their repositories can be searched on de-mand from one single interface. A forward deployed end user tied to a Jagwire ground suite for live video feeds can also have access to high-resolution imagery held in a Jagwire Enterprise system, provided there is network connectivity between both sites. In the same way, Jagwire provides

Jagwire provides a single solution for the processing, ingestion, management, discovery and dissemination of still imagery

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central command with the ‘full picture’ of the mission either via direct feeds into their Jagwire Enterprise system or via fed-erated searches. Jagwire’s federation ca-pabilities extend the reach of the end-user delivering mission critical information when and where it is needed.

IntuitiveJagwire’s web-enabled user interface provides graphical and text-based fields to sift through large amounts of imagery and video data and deliver just what is needed. It provides a map interface in which users can easily select live feeds over their area of interest. A web browser is the interface for search and dissemi-nation of assets indexed and archived by the system. Thin clients for visualisation of imagery and video player require no installation, simplifying user access.This intuitive user interface and filtering tools shorten the time from collection to action. Additionally, with sophisticated vis-ualisation options, the ability to even fur-ther dive down into the data ensures that users get only what they need and nothing more. For forward-deployed special forces operators in austere environments, or

those with distressed communications infrastructures, this is a critical capability.

AnalyticsAdapting to customer needs, Jagwire’s upcoming releases deliver on-demand an-alytics through integration with the ENVI Services Engine. ENVI Services Engine is a cloud-based image exploitation solution that can be deployed on almost any enter-prise infrastructure, providing streamlined access to geospatial information from desktops, mobile devices or web applica-tions. Users can also leverage the power of ENVI Services Engine through the Jagwire interface. They can select images for on-de-mand processing and within minutes JPIP stream the results to their workstation. Some of the processing algorithms availa-ble include industry-leading Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), land use, change detection and pan sharpening processes, among others.

Integration with MotionDSP’s Ikena ISR software also provides video processing capabilities for Jagwire users. The Ikena ISR solution is capable of enhancing vid-eo, creating advanced imagery products, and doing video analytics on-the-fly on live

streaming video. Through Jagwire integra-tion, users can now apply different video processing algorithms to live video feeds.

Adapting to the changing technologies and the defence missions it supports, Ex-elis developed the next generation Jagwire solution to provide analysts, special oper-ators and decision makers access to mul-tiple imaging modalities from a Web-ena-bled user interface. The software solution eliminates the need for administering and accessing multiple, disparate systems. Jagwire’s fully integrated capabilities sig-nificantly improve situational awareness further reducing the time and complexity of getting critical and time-sensitive data out to the tactical edge and back.

Modular, Intergrated C4I Air and Missile Defence (MIC4AD)MIC4AD is an advanced unified integrated C4I system that commands and controls operations of air defence, missile defence and air superiority missions — traditionally handled as three different domains. The system provides an end-to-end solution for multi-mission, multi-layer and multi-range air and missile threats. MIC4AD generates a unified and coherent real-time Air Situation Picture (ASP). The system correlates data from various sensors and platforms (radars, electro-optic, data link systems, etc.), assesses and classifies the threats, and then allocates targets to the optimised weapon launch systems to intercept incom-ing threats (TAWA – Threat Assessment Weapon).MIC4AD can integrate and optimise interception plan for Rafael’s and non-Rafael’s weapon systems, as well as legacy weapon systems. Its modular architecture

enables the customer to employ MIC4AD in addition to customer’s national command and control system as an add-on component or module, or even to replace the existing command and control.Targets assignment to the various fire units within the network can be fully automatic, semi-automatic or manual, depending on the tactical situation, customer doctrine and requirements. MIC4AD provides effective command and control and flexible resource management that create optimised solutions to all threats at any level of command — national level, regional level or tactical level as a battalion level.

By Ricardo RiosSolutions Engineer, ExelisRicardo.rios@exelisinc.com

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hi-res imagery’address the

‘We will

supply-demand gap for

the uniqueness of the Urthecast mission is the two cameras (video and optical sensor) on board the international Space Station. Wade larson, President and coo of the latest player to join the earth observation club, thinks the business model of Urthecast could change the entire eo industry.

UrtheCast is the latest entrant into commercial earth observation business. Tell us more about the venture.UrtheCast is a Canadian company, based in Vancouver, BC, that has successfully installed two earth observation sensors on board the International Space Station (ISS). One of the two cameras is capable of streaming ultra high-definition (HD) video in colour (the High Resolution Camera or HRC) of the earth while the other is a push-broom medium-resolu-tion four band multispectral camera (the Medium Resolution Camera or MRC). UrtheCast is working in exclusive part-nership with the Russian Federal Space Agency and RSC Energia, the Russian space company that was instrumental in sending Yuri Gagarin into space. As part of the agreement with RSC Energia, Urthe-Cast has provided the cameras, the data handling software, and the ground station network, while Energia has provided the hardware certification, the bi-axial pointing platform, the camera launch and installations, and the data downlink.

As of February 18, the cameras have successfully passed initial functional test-ing. Once test and calibration is complet-ed, the two UrtheCast cameras will begin streaming footage of the earth from the ISS and will distribute it directly to cus-tomers or stream it to our interactive Web platform. This is the first time a commer-cial EO satellite will be producing ultra

Wade Larson, President and COO, UrtheCast

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HD, multispectral colour video — acces-sible to the public.

What is unique about UrtheCast’s earth observation sensors?UrtheCast imagery and video data will be collected from our cameras, which are installed on the Zvezda service module of the ISS. The high-resolution video camera is mounted onto a bi-axial pointing plat-form, and will provide imagery at spatial resolution of 1.1 m and 30 frames/second video with a footprint of 5 km x 3.4 km. Still shots are also possible with this. The medium-resolution camera is a push-broom imager with fixed-nadir viewing and provides four band multispectral imagery at a spatial resolution of 5m, with a swath of 47 km.

Once collected, the data will be sent to our cloud-based ground segment infra-structure where it will be processed to gen-erate the image and video files. Those will be either distributed directly to customers or put on UrtheCast’s Web platform for Web and mobile users around the world in an interactive, near-real time, ultra HD experience.

Why did UrtheCast choose the ISS as its platform? The main reason for putting the cameras

on the ISS is economics. We are able to put the senors in space for much less investment than would be required if we were to launch the satellites. In addi-tion, there are some advantages to the ISS orbit, which is very different from traditional earth observation satellites. For one thing, the ISS has a lower altitude than EO satellites, which means we can achieve higher resolutions with smaller apertures (another cost saving). Further-more, with an inclined orbit between 51.6 degrees north to 51.6 degrees south, lasting approximately 90 minutes per or-bit, the cameras are able to cover 90% of the world’s population. This unusual orbit puts us at an advantage with high revisit rates and acquisition at higher latitudes. For example, at about 50 degrees latitude (north and south), the revisit passes per year is much higher than that of a traditional EO satellites operating in sun synchronous, near polar orbit. Another advantage is the ability to pass through a particular location at various times of day and night, something traditional EO satellites are unable to do as they cover any particular area at the fixed time each day. The disadvantage of the orbit, how-ever, is that we will not have coverage of geographic zones above 51.6 degrees for the MRC or 55 degrees for the HRC.

How is the ground segment being planned?UrtheCast is adopting a new ground segment business model. We are building state-of-the-art ground stations using open source and COTS products, lever-aging on cloud and entreprise solutions. We are planning to have ground stations in Moscow and Oxfordshire as well as

UrtheCast cameras

will constantly roll

as the ISS circles

the earth, 16 times

a day. They will

capture video and

imagery below the

ISS orbit, where

approximately

90% of the world’s

population lives

The UrtheCast cameras on board ISS

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From left: The UrtheCast team prior to the launch of the cameras to the International Space Station; the cameras being ready to be installed on ISS

stations leased in Dubai, South Africa, Mauritius, and Singapore. We are also in discussion with a number of customers looking to purchase an UrtheCast ground station. Once in operation, we will buy services back from those ground stations according to its business needs.

What are the products and what ap-plication areas is UrtheCast envisag-ing with its imagery capabilities?UrtheCast’s initial product offerings include ultra high-resolution video (Ultra HD video), subset of full frame, georeferenced high-resolution image stacking and im-agery mosaics. The video and image stack would be radiometrically corrected and geometrically consistent. It is also possible to collect a path video or create a corridor product. Disasters, borders, coastlines, etc. can be efficiently imaged and moni-tored using our cameras. Our value-add-ed products include super-resolution still images at sub-meter GSD, DSM, 3D models and enable fly-throughs.

UrtheCast sensors can serve a variety of applications. Apart from conventional applications, very high-resolution vertical detail of a building/structure/target are of high interest, while the high-level DEM cre-ated with several number of frames. Those would be useful for disaster management and environmental applications like mon-itoring hotspots. Video of such hotspots would enable the authorities to gain a bet-ter understanding of the actual situation

on the ground. Defence and surveillance is another major application. Applications like traffic movement in an urban setting are of interest to some customers.

What is UrtheCast’s revenue model?UrtheCast is developing four distinct rev-enue streams. In addition to conventional EO data sales, we are including media outlets as a major customer group. To date, media outlets have been harnesss-ing EO imagey when it is offered as a free source. For instance, consider a major environmental disaster: for a media com-pany to send a team to cover an event or a series of events over an extended period of time is cost-prohibitive and time con-suming. UrtheCast’s video is a quick and affordable alternative, at times providing video in less than an hour.

Web advertising is another stream of revenue for UrtheCast. As the company expects tremendous Web traffic, giant consumer companies will be targeted to have, for instance, their logos on their lo-cations in the video stream. Live EO video and data sales to social gaming, commer-cial apps and app platforms like Android, Blackberry, and Apple will be an addition-al stream of revenue.

Developers can build applications using our data and host them on the UrtheCast platform website. We will then sell these apps to customers and share the revenue with the developers. This capability will be game-changing in the EO market.

We are also coming up with channel sales and resellers worldwide to target conventional application sectors such as defence and surveillance, urban develop-ment, mining, environment, and disaster management. With all of UrtheCast’s capacities, we are postitioned to provide a new set of data and help address the supply-demand gap for high resolution satellite imagery worldwide.

What other initiatives are being planned with UrtheCast’s imagery? In addition to UrtheCast’s commercial efforts, we have signed partnerships with organisations like the United Nations and Discovery’s Science Channel. We will provide data for humanitarian relief efforts, disaster management, and for media distribution purposes. A large portion of UrtheCast’s data will be available for public viewing on our interactive Web platform — the first of its kind. We think that this has the potential to change the earth observa-tion business.

UrtheCast will be updating its platform with footage of the earth in a matter of hours, versus years for some other websites. Individuals will be able to view video and still images of major events across the world — be they social events, natural disasters, or weather phenomena. A realtime social layer will also be included in this interactive plat-form. Geo-coded video, imagery, and in-formation available on the Web about that particular location will be included.

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maritime security

A Whole New CapabilityS-AiS provides the capability to look at the maritime world — from safety and security to logistics and disaster recovery, to environment and resource protection — in a whole new way

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is an example of a technical device that has had an impact far beyond its intended

usage, that of collision avoidance and shipping control in confined waters for maritime safety. That impact extends to global security, maritime environmen-tal and resource protection, and even logistics planning and execution. There is a growing realisation that the space-based collection of S-AIS, which was originally envisioned as an anti-terrorist device in response to 9/11, has huge applications for logistics planning, environmental protec-tion, resource safeguarding, and in times of distress, for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, besides smuggling, piracy and other acts of terrorism. Indeed, S-AIS may have come into existence as a security system, but it is in logistics planning, environmental safeguarding, resource protection, and HA/DR, as well as counter smuggling of all sorts (human, contraband, drugs, weapons) that the real value of the system has evolved. All nations either on, or dependent on the use of, the seas have all these problems in

more or lesser degrees. However, no one nation has sufficient resources to patrol or even monitor the vast oceans from which these challenges arise.

What is AIS? AIS was created by a committee of the In-ternational Maritime Organization (IMO), an agency of the United Nations, in 1990’s as collision avoidance and shipping con-trol systems using a limited range beacon in the VHF frequency range to identify and provide pertinent information to all similarly equipped ships within line of sight. Some of the information is static: length, beam, draft, owner, name, Mobile Maritime Service Identified (MMSI), IMO registration number, captain, etc. Some of the information is dynamic: position, speed, heading, rudder angle, and some of it is voyage specific, next port of call, immediately past port of call, etc. Ships need to broadcast only a limited set of this information every few seconds, with the interval dependent on the vessel’s speed. Every five minutes, the ship broad-casts all 29 data fields of the system, some of which may well be empty. These are

the two basic types of messages, but base stations situated along many countries’ coasts, generally near larger ports, can request a situation tailored sets of the resident data from a specific ship or from all ships in range. The request and the ships’ responses can be automated so that the exchange is almost entirely in the ‘machine-to-machine’ (M2M) mode of communications, with minimal operator input.

All commercial and private ships en-gaged in commercial traffic over 300 tons, all ships carrying six or more passengers, and all tugs over 600 shaft horsepower, are now required to carry AIS. The creation of the space-based collection of that sig-nal, now widely referred to as S-AIS, was conceived less than a month after 9/11 as a means to increase the security of the maritime assets of the United States. In the ensuing 10+ years, the employment of S-AIS, just like GPS which was conceived as a means to improve the accuracy of US submarine launched ballistic missiles, has found usage in a number of fields.

One of the major payoffs for the space industry is the fact that the use of earth

Monitoring of vessels in ocean through satellites

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maritime security

observation systems such as Synthetic Aperture Radar Satellites (SARsats) and electro-optical imaging space systems (EO satellites — electro-optical cameras onboard satellites) are now being much more widely used over the world’s oceans, and their effectiveness has been increased dramatically, because S-AIS can give high-ly useful indications as to where to point these systems for maximum effectiveness, in strategic, operational and, as more and more well-placed terminals come into ex-istence to upload commands to these sat-ellites and download their collected data, in a tactically useful time frame. Indeed, the spread of the terminals is due in part to the realisation of the unique usefulness of S-AIS when coupled to SAR. As the tac-tical usefulness of S-AIS comes into sharp focus, the importance of the latency of the S-AIS data will also come into focus.

The recognition of these facts has giv-en rise to the concept now called ‘Collab-oration in Space for International Global Maritime Awareness’ (C-SIGMA). The concept, which calls for the banding to-gether of all nations to form a collabora-tion to share their resources and unclas-sified data on maritime operations and conditions (not unlike the way weather and international flight data is shared globally) so that the world can be safer and more secure, is able to respond more rapidly and effectively to disasters and hu-man needs of all sorts.

Till 2013, there were approximately 14 S-AIS receivers in space. Two companies, exactEarth from Canada, and ORBCOMM from the USA, are working in the field of collection of S-AIS data and reselling it. Additionally, several countries, Japan, Norway, and India at a minimum, have experimental S-AIS receivers in space. In all cases, more and better follow-on sys-tems are planned. Indeed, the European Space Agency and at least three private companies are seriously considering put-ting up a significant number of AIS receiv-ers in space. The two commercial compa-nies, namely exactEarth and ORBCOMM are busy expanding their constellations as well as ground terminal networks. Both companies, after launching test/research and development satellites, have turned to the very best satellite builders for the state-of-the-art receiver technology. While ORBCOMM has chosen Sierra Ne-vada Corporation, ExactEarth has joined hands with Space Quest to build several

of its satellites. It is anticipated that the vast majority of all AIS transmissions an-ywhere on the Earth will be detected and reported by these two companies.

Now that the S-AIS is well on its way to becoming a complete system, several countries with significant capabilities in building a global system, the radar and op-tical satellite companies, are also rapidly expanding their fleets. Canada announced it will be launching three more SARsats, calling them the Radar Constellation Mis-sion (RCM). The European Space Agency plans to launch at least two Sentinel SAR-sats. India has launched two, Korea one, and Japan is planning to launch one SAR and one EO bird. All that is good news. While all these nations are looking at using these systems for ocean and terra surveil-lance, the real questions are: •   What are the actual costs of using these 

systems in this way?•   What are the real benefits?•     What are the costs of not doing it?It is the third question that really stands out as you try to understand what is happening in early 21st century in the maritime do-main, but let’s lay some foundation first.

C-SIGMA can be summarised as using unclassified systems, including the number of highly capable space systems now on or-bit or planned for in the near future, to build a truly global maritime awareness system. This is only possible because of S-AIS.

Why C-SIGMA?Besides the obvious strategic, operational and tactical advantages of having a much better picture of what is happening at one’s coasts, there are other, less obvious reasons to move towards implementing something like C-SIGMA. Below is a very brief examination of some of those points:•   One of the main points of the US’s 

Navy/Marine/Coast Guard ‘Coopera-tive Strategy for 21st Century Sea pow-er’ (MS21) is the need for information sharing among all the navies and coast guards of the world. That has been reit-erated as a core goal at several interna-tional sea power symposiums. To date, most of the action involving moving this MS21 forward has been a long list of bi-lateral meetings. C-SIGMA could change this by providing a specific goal for all to work towards.

•   Most navies in the world are multi-mis-sion organisations. They have a security mission for sure, but they spend a large

part of their time in resource protec-tion, and many are deeply involved in environmental protection as well. C-SIGMA provides the opportunity to build a global common data exchange called for in the MS21. It gives all mar-itime authorities a means/subject on which to focus all data sharing efforts for a ‘prize worth the effort’.

•   Having a much better picture of what is happening at one’s coasts is a recog-nised need of all maritime nations. Most see this requirement as one that is im-possible to be fulfilled, and it was until the advent of space-based AIS and com-mercial high resolution synthetic radar satellites. C-SIGMA provides the means to dramatically mitigate and satisfy this need. It provides a common framework/goal for discussions on info sharing.

C-SIGMA offers opportunities for better off nations to help those who are not so fortunate, while helping themselves address known maritime problems such as smuggling (goods/drugs/people), environmental pollution, resource theft (fish/oil/minerals), safety and security.

Billions of dollars are being stolen from countries bordering the Gulf of Guinea (GoG). Additionally, they also report sig-nificant pollution in their superb fishing waters. How are these crimes enacted?

S-AIS was conceived

less than a month

after 9/11 as a

means to increase

the security of

maritime assets of

the United States.

In the ensuing

10+ years, the

employment

of S-AIS has found

usage in a number

of fields.

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By illegal fishing and by theft, from mini-mally manned offshore oil well pumping stations — illegal bunkering is common here. Nigeria reports the cost is around 14 billion dollar a year in Nigeria alone. And illegal dumping of oil waste in their waters is also causing significant concern. Ghana and the Ivory Coast report crimes of similar magnitude, but they have not been able to get exact numbers as Nigeria. Several other countries of the GoG almost have the same problems.

This one case, the Gulf of Guinea mari-time problem, makes the case for C-SIGMA. There are other facts that have now been demonstrated in various exercises and the fact that the concept has been tested over the past six years also needs to be consid-ered. The tests, the first of which, in 2006 used both optical and SAR spacecraft, cou-pled with terrestrial AIS, to detect and track the target ships from the time they left port in Greece until they entered port in the east coast of the United States. Other tests since then, from as diverse places as Chile, the Seychelles, in most of the approaches to Europe, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, have clearly shown that we have the technology, including the ability to fuse the products of the various space systems and introduce information from a wide range of data bases to give us a very good idea of ves-sels, their history, etc. Based on this infor-mation, we will be able to identify suspects and send out our maritime patrol aircraft and interdiction vessels after them. These rare and costly systems are being made dramatically more effective with the use of space systems by providing informed cue-

ing and vectoring. Exactly how much are the cost savings

from using unclassified space systems is unknown, and should be the focus of a substantial study. However, those peo-ple who have conducted these tests, now numbering nearly a dozen, have nearly unanimously come to believe that space systems could make the terrestrial sys-tems dramatically more effective. The costs described in general terms by the commercial providers of these systems seem to be quite reasonable, and could be made more so if all the users of such systems come into a common bargain-ing unit, probably under the envisioned C-SIGMA Coordination Centre, and were able to provide a stable order for the space data. Many of us believe that the system could be very cost effective if all friendly nations work together to create an en-visioned system of a main center which coordinaties with regional centers all over the world. The main cost would be for the purchase of the information/data from the commercial earth observation space systems and the manning and running of small headquarters. The regional centers would, most probably, be co-located with existing maritime law enforcement and security organisations such as the coast guards of the world, including Chile, Can-ada, Japan, India, Abu Dhabi, etc.

By having a central coordinating cen-tre, serving as an ‘honest broker’ for the entire world, the advantages are manifold. The Center could negotiate for the best prices for data from several commercial providers, it could also be the authorita-

tive source for the capability and status of all space systems with maritime obser-vation capabilities. This is already being done in several regions, such as the Eu-ropean Maritime Safety Agency, Lisbon, Portugal and Japan. Canada and the Unit-ed States also use commercial systems to help keep a watch in the maritime do-main. Then why not share the information for the betterment of all mankind?

The other major task of the center would be its use as the honest broker for stand-ardisation. Standards are a keystone for co-operation (but of course just the keystone, not the whole building). In many instances, they are still not used. For example, each SAR satellite has a different image and metadata format. When we asked the com-mercial providers last year for VDS (ship de-tections) from SAR images (KSAT, eGEOS, DLR), each gave these simple data in a dif-ferent format. For Sat-AIS, the NMEA pro-vides better standardisation, even though it is a format that was designed for RF trans-mission and not for internet exchange.

There are other aspects of standardi-sation besides data standards that need to be addressed, and a global centre could be a very useful tool for doing that — the ac-cess to space-based data, the ordering, the billing, the requests for value adding, the discovery of both facts and data. All this could and should be based on standardised M2M web functionality. Ordering space-based data should be as simple as ordering on Amazon or eBay, and even further auto-mated. With such standardisation, not only the end-users will benefit, but also the var-ious providers and value adders can better work together. In fact, the latter is probably the more important point.

All of this started when it became feasi-ble to identify and track ships from space, which only became possible with the ad-vent of space-based AIS, which was not even created with that thought as a prima-ry driver back in 2001. Funny how these things work.

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US Coast Guard monitoring vessel traffic in New York Harbour

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Modernisation is the Need of the HourDefExpo India 2014 was held in New Delhi recently. More than 600 companies from 30 countries participated in the show

The 8th edition of Defexpo India, a biennial exhibition on land, naval, internal security and defence system was

held in Delhi recently. Organised by the Ministry of Defence, the four-day show is considered to be one of the Asia`s biggest land and maritime shows.

Speaking at the inaugural, Defence Minister AK Antony said, “The government is taking necessary steps to modernise the armed forces so that they are well-equipped with the best equipment, weap-on systems and technology.” He also said that efforts are being made to accelerate the pace of indigenisation in the defence sector.

This year, more than 600 companies, both foreign and Indian, took part in the show. It witnessed participation from 30 countries, namely, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Po-land, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Singa-pore, Slovak Republic, South Africa, South Korea (RoK), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine and USA. Russia was the biggest participating country in terms of indoor and outdoor space occupied, and represented with the maximum num-ber of 37 companies.

BEL Inks MoU with Sagem Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Sagem Défense Sécurité, France, to explore cooperation in the production and supply of navigational sensors like periscope, inertial navigational system and optron-ic mast to the Indian Navy for its various platforms under consideration for future induction. As per the agreement, the two will work together for 24 months and if considered necessary, the contract can be extended to a further period.

The Indian Navy has ambitious plans of inducting ships and submarines into the service in the near future. Accordingly, the ship and submarine construction programme has been approved by the government. Naval platforms have large-scale require-ment of sensors such as SIGMA–40, ring laser gyro, optronic mast, attack periscope and radar mast for submarines.

Defence Minister AK Antony inaugrating DefExpo India 2014

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Modernisation is the Need of the Hour

Saab Teams Up With Various Indian Companies•   Saab and the Kalyani Group have 

entered into a strategic alliance to partner and address key Indian army air defence projects, including the VSHORAD and SRSAM require-ments. The agreement will initially focus on these two programmes for India. Saab is offering a system based on the RBS 70 NG missile system for VSHORAD, delivering a highly accurate, man-portable sys-tem with 24/7 all-target capability that is immune to countermeasures, said the company. For the SRSAM requirement Saab is offering a unique combination of its Giraffe AMB 3-D radar and the BAMSE advanced ground based air defence missile system.

•   Saab and Ashok Leyland have joined forces to compete for the Indian Army Short Range Surface to Air Missile (SRSAM) air defence programme. The two are offering a new solution that combines the

Saab BAMSE missile system with Ashok Leyland high-mobility vehicles. The Saab BAMSE SRSAM is an all-weather, all-target, air defence missile system that can be deployed to protect fixed and mobile assets. It is a purpose-built ground-based air defence missile and is the latest in a long line of successfully devel-oped and deployed Saab missile systems. Ashok Leyland will deliver high-mobility vehicles to trans-port the BAMSE SRSAM solution. All sub-units within the BAMSE SRSAM are being integrated with the Ashok Leyland Super Stallion 8x8, a high-mobility vehicle capable of operating in all types of terrain under all weather conditions. The complete SRSAM system includes the GIRAFFE AMB, a powerful 3D surveillance radar and command and control system intended for short and medium-range ground based air defence and the BAM-SE MCC missile launcher with six ready-to-fire missiles.

OIS-AT Launches Radar System, Enters into Agreement with Various Companies

•   OIS Advanced Technology (OIS-AT) has launched the 3D Avian (Bird) radar system. The system provides complete information essential for flight safety - altitude, position and vector of birds over the entire airport space and has a host of features which include — detection range (max): 11 km; operating temperature range: -20C to +55C; 360 degrees azimuth coverage with sector blanking option; ability to pin point precise bird loca-tion; operation height : 10,000 ft; and sustainable wind speed of 100 kmph enables risk and habitat assessment.

•   Work is well underway in the devel-opment of foliage penetrating radar based on SAR - synthetic aperture technology, to meet homeland securi-ty requirements in India, announced OIS-AT. This radar will also be able to identify mines or IEDs just below the ground surface, according to the company. Target prototype availability will be in 18 months. The company plans to develop variants for both manned and unmanned fixed wing aircraft. An aircraft or a UAV mounted with an OIS-AT foliage penetrating ra-dar would be able to fly at an altitude of 1,500-4,500 metres above ground level, providing a swath of 2.5-7.5 km. The standard operating altitude is 3,000 meters with a ground swath of 2.5 km.

•   OIS-AT has entered into a strategic partnership with Israel’s AeroSen-tinel. As per the agreement, the former will be latter’s OEM of the Quad Copter UAVs and advance this product in India.

•   The company also announced its strategic alliance with ART, Spain. Under this agreement OIS-AT will perform all the functions of an OEM for Area Surveillance Radars (ASRs) in India.

•   It has also entered into a strategic partnership with Israel’s Netline Communication Technologies Ltd under which it will perform major functions of delivering Advanced Jammers to Indian customers.

The government is taking necessary

steps to modernise the armed forces so

that they are well-equipped with the

best equipment, weapon systems and

technology

AK Antony, Indian Defence Minister

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GAGAN System Reaches Certification Milestone The GPS-Aided Geo Augmented Navigation (GAGAN) system jointly developed by Airports Authority of India (AAI), ISRO and Raytheon recently achieved certification level Required Navigation Performance (RNP) 0.1.

The GAGAN system is a Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) equipped with the most advanced air navigation tech-nology available. Aircraft equipped with SBAS receivers may utilise GAGAN signals in Indian airspace for en route navigation and non-precision approaches without vertical guidance. This capability will allow aircraft to follow more efficient flight paths through congested airspace, noise sensitive areas or difficult terrain, said the company.

The system includes 15 reference stations strategically placed in India to optimise signal availability, uplink stations, master control stations, communication network and associated software, all integrated to two geostationary earth orbit satellites trans-mitting GPS corrections in C and L bands.

GAGAN is the fourth SBAS system certified for operational use. The system provides coverage for the entire Indian flight infor-mation region via broadcast signals from the Indian built GSAT 8 and GSAT 10 satellites.

Q/A: Nikhil Khanna, Country Director, Raytheon/ Tim Scempp, Technical Director, Navigation and Landing Systems, Raytheon

Can you tell us about the implications of this certification?The ground system is certified for use, meaning that an aircraft can now equip and use the signal from GAGAN geosynchronous satellite to navigate. Till now, the system was not testified, that is, non-aviation users produced the signal to give better accuracy but aircraft was not allowed to use it. But now that it is certified, aircraft can use it.

What now is going to be Raytheon’s role in the project?We are working under a maintenance contract with AAI to get the system to the point where it can be certified for PTV-1 which is a landing capability. We will also be maintaining the system and ensuring that it is running smoothly.

Rockwell Collins to Provide 721S Radio to IAFRockwell Collins’ new 721S Fixed Site Ground radio has been selected by India-based Park Controls & Communications (P) Ltd. as an integral part of an advanced telemetry system for the Indian Air Force. This is the first selection of the 721S radio for the Indian military.

“In addition to being the preferred replacement radio for 17,000 fielded GRC-171 UHF air traffic control radios, the flexibility of the software designed, IP-based 721S lends itself to seamless integration in a multitude of applications,” said Ram Prasad, Manag-ing Director for Rockwell Collins India.

The highly reliable, long-range 721S radio is fully interoperable with the legacy radios in use by military forces and offers remote control features for ‘lights out’ operation, reducing manpower needs. The radio also features the company’s patented Clarity tech-nology, which eliminates background noise in both transmit and receive modes. It is also configured to operate efficiently in any co-site environment through the use of internal tracking filters, said the company.

Q/A: Ram Prasad, Managing Director, Rockwell Collins India

What brings you to DefExpo?India needs equipments for modernisation and we feel that we have the right equipments. In fact, some of them are tailor made for applications in India — be it aircraft communications or ground communications or avionics. We feel that we have the right products for India. It is win-win situation for both. 

What products are you showcasing?We are showcasing a couple of things — HF equipments, and our flagship next-gen software defined radio which is the requirement of all the three forces — navy, army and air force. SDA comes with networking capability, is very reliable and compact powerful radio. We have also got a lot of equipments and avionics which are touch sensitive displays. We are sure people would love to see them. This year, we have also bought a new system called Persistent Surveillance System (PSS) — this is something that has been developed in Australia. It is meant for security of vital areas — be it airports, ammunition depots, etc. India has expressed interest in these systems.

Ram PrasadManaging Director Rockwell Collins India

Nikhil KhannaCountry Director & Senior Executive - India, Raytheon

events

MARCH

OPV Asia PacificMarch 17-18, 2014Amara Sanctuary Resort Sentosa Singaporewww.offshorepatrolasia.com

DIMDEXMarch 25-27, 2014Qatar National Convention Centre Dohawww.dimdex.com

APRIL

iSNRApril 1-3, 2014Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Centre, UAEwww.isnrabudhabi.com/Portal/home.aspx

Defensive Cyberspace Operations & Intelligence Conference April 8-9, 2014Tel Aviv, Israel www.dcoi.org.il

DSA 2014April 14-17, 2014PWTC, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysiawww.dsaexhibition.com

Geoint Symposium 2014April 14-17, 2014Tampa, Florida USAwww.geoint2013.com

Middle East Missile and Air Defense Symposium 2014April 27-28, 2014Abu Dhabi, UAEwww.inegma.com

Counter Terror ExpoApril 29-30, 2014Olympia,London, UKwww.counterterrorexpo.com

MAY

C4ISR & Networks 2014 May 5-6, 2014 Double Tree, Crystal City, Arlingtonwww.c4isrconf.com

Black Sea Defense & Aerospace 2014 May 14 - 16, 2014Bucharest, Romaniawww.bsda.ro

ITEC May 20-22, 2014Cologne Messe, Germanywww.itec.co.uk

JUNE

UDTJune 10-12, 2014ACC Liverpool, United Kingdomwww.udt-global.com

GeoIntelligence IndiaJune 12-13, 2014

JW Marriott, Aerocity New Delhi, Indiawww.geointworld.net

Eurosatory 2014June 16-20, 2014Paris, Francewww.eurosatory.com

JULY

Farnborough International AirshowJuly 14-20, 2014Farnborough, United Kindgomwww.farnborough.com

SEPTEMBER

GPEC 2014September 9-11, 2014Leipzig, Germanywww.gpec.de

Africa Aerospace and Defence 2014September 17-21, 2014City Of TshwaneCenturion South Africawww.aadexpo.co.za

OCTOBER

Euronaval 2014October 27-31, 2014Paris Le BourgetFrancewww.euronaval.fr

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North America and Arctic Focus Deliberations provided an opportunity for identifying user’s futuristic require-ments and solutions that could meet the security challenges. A number of case studies were presented illustrating how complex problems, specific to this region, could be solved. These included studies on Activity Based Intelligence, Big Data and Cloud technology. Maritime safety 4

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DGI EUROPE 2014: Strategies and Technology for the Defence CommunityThe 10th edition of DGI Europe brought together 800 geoint professionals from 45 countries

and navigation challenges, environmen-tal matters and real-time surveillance, particular to the northern polar ice infest-ed regions were discussed.

Return to Contingency in Defence The plenary sessions were dedicated to the main theme of the conference - Return to contingency in defence

and homeland security. Participants discussed strategies for providing geo-

spatial and intelligence support for contingency operations, both for

urban environment and theatre operations. In the opening

guest ad-dress, General Sir Richard Barrons, KCB,CBE,ADC, Commander, Joint Forces Command, UK MoD, spoke about the future role of geointelligence in defence

and contingency planning. Sandra Williams, Chief of Europe Support Team, NGA, described the progress of inte-grating different environments into a single operational picture. Underpinning security on a global scale and creating an assured geospatial capability was the theme of the talk of Vanessa Lawrence, CB Director General and Chief Executive, Ordinance Survey. AVM John Rigby, CBE, UK MoD, talked about using intelligence, data and geospatial to ensure maximum security and operational capability.

Other highlights of the day were a panel discussion on how to collaboratively manage future challeng-es to homeland and defence intelligence on a global level. Technical sessions were organised in six separate parallel tracks focussed on contingency planning, ISR,

national, maritime and littoral secu-rity. In the national security stream,

Admiral Robert B Murrett described the global defence and intelligence

challenges, prioritising the hotspots into three tiers. Speaking about NATO’s

requirement to have an enduring Joint ISR capability, Ludwig Decamps of NATO Headquarters said that it was necessary to have coordinated collection, processing, dissemination and sharing of informa-tion from all national ISR assets. The three key focus areas of the NATO JSIR Project,

scheduled for completion by 2015, were training, doctrine and networking. Air

Cdre Chris Jones, RAF, Head of Capa-bility of CE4ISR, JFC, stressed that in-

formation superiority is the enduring and key requirement for defence and se-

curity forces for which a multi-int, enter-prise wide, service oriented approach is critical. Citing the support provided to the ISAF in Afghanistan over the last 10 years as a high priority area for UK, Col Mark Burroughs, JFC, emphasised the growing demand for effective information man-agement and exploitation. “Geo must help

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commander’s and staff to move from data to information, to knowledge, and finally to understanding”, he said. Presenting a Maritime Operations Overview, LCdr Troy White of NATO’s Maritime Command (MARCOM) described the maritime envi-ronment and listed the trade choke points. He gave details of MARCOM’s anti-piracy and anti-terrorist initiatives — Operation Ocean Shield and Operation Active En-deavour. Brian Parish, JFC, UK, explained the need, benefits and strategic objectives of NSDI for UK and the present status.

Intelligence, Cyber and the Big Data ChallengeA panel discussion on effec-tively managing defence intelligence resources of different coun-tries and agencies attracted considera-ble audience participa-tion. Air Cdre Mark Neal, OBE, CTO,JFC, gave an introduction to the use of cen-tralised cloud for big data management in the context of defence ICT strategy. He emphasised the widespread defence applicability of big data in enterprise performance management and cyber defence. Graham Pearson, HP, described the impact of advances in technology and consumption of big data on multi-int ar-chitechture. The future of multi-int would be defined by approach to risks, security policy, procurement strategy, funding pri-orities, govenance and not by technology, he summarised. Brig Gen Dato Zaharin Bin Din, Director of Defence Geospatial Division, Malaysia, gave a presentation on the progress of the geospatial mas-ter plan for Malaysia and the NSDI. He emphasised the need for information sharing between various government organisations and the support of industry partners. Other discussions included the challenges of big data storage, real-time analysis and exploitation in intelligence and defence operations, procedure for development of IT architecture to support an interoperable and scalable intelligence function and one parallel

track dedicated exclusively to maritime security. Cyber threats and suggested solutions to tackle them formed part of another technical track.

This was the 10th edition of DGI Europe. The confer-ence and exhibition has grown over the years, both in participation and content, cover-ing a wide variety of geospatial and as-sociated technologies. It provided an excellent opportunity for discussions and networking for the geoint community.

1. General Sir Richard Barrons, KCB,CBE,ADC 2. Vanessa Lawrence CB3. VAdm Robert Murrett (Retd)4. Col John Kedar (Retd)5&6. Session-in-progress7&8. People at the exhibition9&10. Participants interacting with each other11. The conference witnessed an interactive Q/A session

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North Korea continues to invest in the development of two of its ‘largest political prison camps’ with the construction of new housing blocks and production facilities at camps 15 and 16. Known as Kwanliso, these camps are said to be housing thousands of people including women and children — many of them detained for being associated with those deemed guilty of serious political crimes. There is tight security at both sites with perimeter fences and security points. Human rights groups claim that there is gross violation of human rights in these camps. Last year, a United Nations inquiry into human rights abuses highlighted the ‘widespread’ atrocities being carried out in the political prison camps in the country. Human rights groups say that the new construction is an indication that North Korea is showing no signs of scaling back its fearful labour camp system.

North Korea Expands its Prison Camps

Text Courtesy: Amnesty International, CNN

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Image IntellIgence

12-13 June, 2014 JW Marriott, aerocity, NeW Delhi

Theme: GeoInT enhancInG combaT PoTenTIal

Plenary SeSSionS  P1: Surveillance in the Digital Battlefield   P2: Converting Geographic Coordinates to 

Navigation Coordinates   P3: Target Acquisition and Weapon  

Guidance

excluSive Forum   Internal security and Police Modernisation

Technical SeSSionS  Intelligent Logistics  Border Security  Coastal and Maritime Security  Disaster Management  Emerging Trends

Be a SPeaker Submit Abstracts online before 

30Th aPril, 2014

Join uS For The excluSive conFerence oF The DeFence & inTernal SecuriTy SecTor

regiSTer ToDay!www.geointworld.net

India

Geospatial intelliGence takes centre staGe

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KEYNOTE SPEAKERS INCLUDE

Ms. Letitia A. LongDirector, National Geospatial- Intelligence Agency (NGA)

LTG Michael T. Flynn, U.S. ArmyDirector, Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)

ADM William H. McRaven, U.S. NavyCommander, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)

The Honorable James R. ClapperDirector of National Intelligence (DNI)

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* Due to the October 2013 government shutdown, the GEOINT Symposium was postponed to April. We’ll avoid wasteful spending by adhering asterisks instead of reprinting all of our great signage. Embrace the asterisk!

TAMPA CONVENTION CENTER • TAMPA, FLORIDAAPRIL 14-17, 2014

Mr. Robert ScobleCo-Author of Age of Context; and Startup Liaison for Rackspace

Mr. Shel IsraelCo-Author of Age of Context; and CEO of SI Associates

Ms. Betty J. SappDirector, National Reconnaissance Office (NRO)

LTG Joseph Votel, U.S. ArmyCommander, Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)

Joint Presentation

GEN Lloyd J. Austin III, U.S. ArmyCommander, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)

Dr. Suzette KimballActing Director, U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)