AGS CSOP z PIT RADWAR
The Alliance's ground surveillance program based on the long-range Northrop Grumman RQ-4D Global Hawk Block 40 long-range unmanned aerial vehicle is expected to reach initial operational readiness this year. Poland is one of the partners of the program, and Polish research and industrial enterprises carry out projects related to the construction of its components.
The Alliance's ground surveillance program based on long-range unmanned aerial vehicles, which has been underway for more than a decade, should reach initial operational readiness this year. Poland will not only be a user of this system, but also one of the 15 partner countries that are building it, so Polish industrial enterprises and research institutes carry out projects related to its individual elements. A few weeks ago, PIT-RADWAR SA closed another very important stage related to the AGS CSOP project for the NATO AGS system - the construction of a laboratory for the development and testing of subsequent versions of the software was completed.
The initiative to create a NATO Ground Surveillance System (NATO AGS) was approved at the NATO Prague Summit in November 2002. Formally, work began on April 16, 2004 with the signing of the decision by the national weapons directors of the then 25th NATO. member states to start building the system.
Poland in AGS NATO
Since 2002, Poland has been involved in the work on NATO AGS by delegating its representatives to the Program Steering Committee (AGS Capability Steering Committee), co-funding the AGS support staff office in Brussels, and taking part in meetings of the Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution (TIPS) industry group. Our country even made efforts to locate the main base of the NATO ACS maintenance unit in Powidze, which, however, were not crowned with success.
In April 2009, after the final configuration of the proposed system was determined and the representatives of the first countries signed their signatures under the implementing agreement of the AGS Program Memorandum of Understanding (AGS PMOU), Poland informed NATO Headquarters of its withdrawal from NATO. AGS construction program. At that time, this was motivated by economic considerations, although the previous costs associated with participation in it were not very high (they can be estimated at about PLN 5 million, of which 540 euros were spent to co-finance the Brussels office). ). The planned financial participation of our country in the procurement phase of the system components, which was supposed to take place in 000-2009, was supposed to be 2013 million euros, i.e. 56% of the estimated cost of the project at that time in the amount of 3,91 billion euros. Therefore, it is difficult to talk about significant savings.
A few years later, in October 2012, the new leadership of the Ministry of Defense announced at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels that it had decided to rejoin the NATO AGS program. The following year, Poland submitted a declaration of participation in the program, and in August 2013, the PISA document was sent for signature to the Ministry of National Defense, along with changes made to it over the years. The accession document was finally signed on April 2, 2014 and approved on June 19 of the same year. Our country declared a financial share in the amount of 4,5% of the then estimated cost of the project, i.e. about 71 million euros.
Poland's return to the program allowed the resumption in 2013 of negotiations with the NATO Ground Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA), the NATO Surface Surveillance Management Agency (NAGSMA), which oversees its implementation, and with the main contractor of the NATO program AGS. Northrop Grumman ISS International Inc. (NGISSII), on the participation of Polish research and industrial enterprises in the construction of the system. The terms of membership in the NATO ACS provide that the industry of the participating country of the program is entrusted with the implementation of a set of works that provide partial compensation for the financial contribution incurred by the party in the amount of 2009% to 50%. % of expenses incurred. The market analysis conducted by NGISSIA and NAGSMA resulted in the publication in September of the 100th full study on the participation of the Polish industry in the AGS program. This study details the responsibilities of Polish organizations in the NGISSIA proposal to NAGSMA for the implementation of specific projects. Access to the above. documents, which is a prerequisite for analyzing the possibility of participation of Polish companies in the AGS program, PIT-RADWAR received a research fee for NAGSMA, paid by the Air Force Institute of Technology, in agreement with the Department of Defense Policy of the Ministry of National Security. Protection. The result of the analysis of the external market and the study of the participation of Polish industry in the NATO AGS program was the beginning of close cooperation with NGISSIA. One of the Polish industrial enterprises that started negotiations with NAGSMA on the possibility of implementing projects related to the construction of the NATO AGS was the Warsaw-based PIT-RADWAR SA, owned by Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa SA, which was chosen as the main representative of the Polish defense industry to cooperate with NGISSIA. As a consequence, in February 2013, the Polish industry, led by PIT-RADWAR SA, submitted a proposal for the implementation of projects related to the construction of the NATO AGS system.
A Warsaw-based company's proposal for the CSOP/Backup SMARF project, including a rough order of magnitude (ROM) price and schedule, and a fixed price (FFP), was received by the agency in charge of the program in December 2016. An assessment of the company's competencies was carried out. positively and on October 17, 2017, a solemn ceremony took place Signing of the contract NAGSMA-CON-0023 between the NATO Ground Surveillance Management Organization (NAGSMO), representing the NAGSMA agency, and PIT-RADWAR SA, regarding the implementation of the main AGS software - Project Only Pack (CSOP) . As part of it, the Polish company will develop and provide access to intelligence data obtained by the AGS system for its users, that is, all countries that are members of the North Atlantic Alliance. The contract value is 10,65 million euros, and the project implementation period is scheduled for 33 months.
AGS CSOP from PIT-RADWAR SA
The project, implemented by PIT-RADWAR, is designed to provide the very important functionality of the NATO automatic navigation system. Users of the system will be able to access intelligence information in two ways. The first is real-time systems that allow, with minimal delay, to transmit standardized data received by unmanned aerial vehicles (and other systems cooperating with the NATO ACS) to “tactical” users located, for example, in conflict zones. Such devices and software - the General Purpose Mobile Ground Station (MGGS) and the General Portable Ground Station (TGGS) - will be deployed at NATO's main AGS base at Sigonella near Catania, Sicily, Italy (MGGS) and in the war zone (TGGS) . ). The second is the use of all data received by the system, collected in the main SMARF (System Master Archival / Retrieval Facility) database, by users at the highest levels of management. The AGS CSOP software developed in Poland should provide "national users" with the ability to remotely use, at any time and according to their own needs, the data collected by the AGS system regarding ground targets, as well as improve situational awareness at lower levels. command through "national" command support systems.
The AGS CSOP software package will consist of three main components: AGS CSOP Server, AGS CSOP Client and Backup SMARF.
The release of the AGS CSOP software will be a key element to enable users to use the target and target data collected by the AGS system. This will be an important element in achieving the operational readiness of the entire system.
NATO AGS and data dissemination
In the era of the information society, no one needs to be convinced of the enormous role and importance of information in modern military operations. In addition to such obvious signs characterizing information as timeliness and reliability, there are other important signs. This is incl. availability, comparability and manufacturability. In addition to the quality of information, its quantity also matters. In recent years, the focus, including in the military, has shifted to enabling the processing of large amounts of information, as continuous progress in the field of obtaining it makes it difficult to find ways and possibilities to process and share it. This process can be observed, in particular, in the field of intelligence.
On the other hand, obtaining and collecting intelligence information from the theater of operations, characterized by the above properties, as well as providing it to one's own and coalition forces in order to achieve general situational awareness is a necessary condition for success in combat operations. fighting.
The NATO AGS project is just one of the answers to the need to have a common situational awareness. Operationally, the AGS will provide NATO political and military authorities at the strategic, operational and tactical levels with consistent, timely, secure, unrestricted and reliable information relating to a crisis or area of conflict.
The program includes the creation of a system based on five Northrop Grumman RQ-4D Global Hawk Block 40 unmanned aerial vehicles, which are equipped with the necessary equipment for observing the earth's surface, primarily the Multi-Platform Radar Implementation Program (MP-RTIP). ) radar station, as well as optoelectronic sensors. The information obtained will allow tracking the movement and concentration of troops, which will make it possible to detect the intentions of a potential enemy. The received data will be sent in real time to the main SMARF database, from where it can be transmitted to allied centers and operational teams thanks to the AGS CSOP software. The advantage of information is that it reaches all audiences in the same form and content, which is important for achieving general awareness of the situation. While the data hosted by the AGS, coming directly from BSP Global Hawk (but also from other sources), is standardized, which ensures Kongsberg - the creator of SMARF for the AGS system - providing this information directly to national systems can be a challenge. Firstly, the system that will receive information from the ACS must "communicate" with the database in one "language". For this purpose, relevant standards have been defined, contained in STANAG 4559 (NATO ISR Library Standard Interface). The information is stored on what is known as the Coalition Shared Date (CSD) Server, which provides a searchable, distributed persistent storage and retrieval mechanism.
Data in a common format is stored in the CSD and can be accessed by clients through access mechanisms that comply with the STANAG 4559 standard. The recorded information consists of real ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) data and a set of metadata that describes it. Metadata includes information about the geolocation and time of receipt of data (for example, images), its source, security settings, or product-specific information (for example, resolution). Based on this metadata, the user has the ability to search for and subscribe to information of interest to him. In the metadata, all (for the domain) relevant product attributes are defined and queried. These parameters can be, for example: location, time, speed, ally/opponent, weather conditions, information reliability/quality, product type. The user can submit an interactive query in which the database is viewed once. It can also use a subscription method whereby a request for data is sent to the server once and the database is searched for a set period of time, with the client automatically notified whenever there are new datasets that match the request criteria. . The above Backup SMARF database was created based on STANAG 4559, called the database interface and other information transfer standards.
Another aspect of using AGS resources relates to procedures. The AGS system itself is used in the NATO network, and connecting to it the telecom networks belonging to the national armed forces, so that these resources are used by the national command support systems, is a very difficult task in terms of military security procedures.
With this in mind, NAGSMA initiated the AGS CSOP project, implemented by PIT-RADWAR, which aims to provide national users with the ability to remotely use the basic products of the AGS system in order to obtain a common situational awareness, as well as develop new products based on existing information (data fusion) .
Data visualization from AGS will be carried out on portable computer equipment with CSOP Client software. The CSOP server software will provide administrative functions and secure use of the client software. The system will also include the Backup SMARF software, which will be a 3000 TB AGS SMARF replicated master database that will collect information for national users.
It is beyond the scope of this article to list all the important features of the AGS CSOP system, but as part of the description of the most interesting, it should be emphasized that the CSOP Server software, together with Backup SMARF, will act as a server for users using the CSOP Client software. As part of its functionality, it will not stop at the function of reading saved information, and will also allow you to save new ISR products in the CSOP system created by system users using the analytical functions of the CSOP Client software. These products can be shared with other AGS users. It is also important that the SMARF database allows you to store and exchange information not only using existing and accepted standards in the form of STANAG, but also non-standardized information. This means that almost any file, in any format, that is considered important from the user's point of view, can be placed in the database and considered as useful information.
