Alliance Ground Surveillance System
The AGS system is designed to perform tasks related to the security of the borders of NATO countries (both land and sea), the protection of soldiers and civilians, as well as crisis management and humanitarian assistance.
On November 21 last year, Northrop Grumman announced the successful transatlantic flight of the first unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) RQ-4D, which will soon perform reconnaissance missions for the North Atlantic Alliance. This is the first of five planned unmanned aerial vehicles delivered to Europe for the needs of the NATO AGS airborne ground surveillance system.
The RQ-4D unmanned aerial vehicle took off on November 20, 2019 from Palmdale, California, and about 22 hours later, on November 21, landed at Italian Air Force Base Sigonella. The US-built UAV meets the military-type certification requirements for solo navigation in airspace over Europe issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The RQ-4D is a version of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle that has been used by the US Air Force for many years. Unmanned aerial vehicles purchased by the North Atlantic Alliance are adapted to its requirements, they will carry out reconnaissance and control activities in peacetime, crisis and wartime.
The NATO AGS system includes unmanned aerial vehicles with advanced radar systems, ground components and support. The main control element is the Main Operating Base (MOB), located in Sigonella, Sicily. NATO AGS unmanned aerial vehicles will take off from here. Two aircraft will be on duty at the same time, and data from SAR-GMTI radars installed on their decks will be analyzed by two groups of specialists. The AGS NATO program has been a very important initiative of the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance for many years, but has not yet been fully implemented. However, only small steps remained until full operational readiness. This solution is very similar to the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control Force (NAEW&CF), which has been active for nearly four decades.
The AGS system consists of two components: air and ground, which will provide not only analytical services and technical support for the mission, but also conduct personnel training.
The purpose of the NATO AGS system will be to fill a gap in the very important intelligence capabilities of the North Atlantic Alliance. It is not only the NATO group that is concerned about the success of this initiative. The success of this investment in security depends to a large extent on all those who know that only the acquisition of new capabilities can help us maintain security in Europe and the world. This important initiative is to constantly monitor everything that happens on land and at sea, including at a distance from the territory of the North Atlantic Alliance, around the clock, in all weather conditions. An important task is to provide the most modern intelligence capabilities in the field of intelligence, surveillance and recognition of RNR capabilities (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance).
After many years of ups and downs, finally, a group of 15 countries jointly decided to acquire these extremely important capabilities in the field of NATO AGS, i.e. build an integrated system consisting of three elements: air, ground and support. The NATO AGS Air Segment will consist of five unarmed RQ-4D Global Hawk UAVs. This American, well-known unmanned aerial platform is based on the design of the Global Hawk Block 40 aircraft manufactured by Northrop Grumman Corporation, equipped with a radar built using MP-RTIP technology (Multi Platform - Radar Technology Insertion Program), as well as a communication link within the line of sight and beyond line of sight, with very long range and broadband data connections.
The ground segment of NATO AGS, which is an important element of this new system, consists of specialized facilities supporting the reconnaissance mission of AGS MOB unmanned aerial vehicles and a number of ground stations built in mobile, portable and portable configurations that are capable of combining and processing data with the ability to operation. These devices are equipped with interfaces that provide a high level of interaction with multiple data users. According to NATO, the ground segment of this system will represent a very important interface between the main NATO AGS system and a wide range of C2ISR (Command, Control, Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance) systems for command, control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. . The ground segment will communicate with many of the systems already in place. It will operate with multiple operational users as well as operate away from the airborne surveillance area.
Such multi-domain use of the NATO AGS system will be carried out in order to constantly provide situational awareness in the theater of operations for the needs, including commanders stationed in areas of force development. In addition, the AGS system will be able to support a wide range of tasks that go far beyond strategic or tactical intelligence. With these flexible tools, it will be possible to implement: protection of civilians, border control and maritime security, anti-terrorism missions, support for the process of crisis management and humanitarian assistance in case of natural disasters, support for search and rescue operations.
The history of NATO's AGS airborne surveillance system is long and complex, and often required compromises. In 1992, the possibility of joint acquisition of new forces and assets by NATO countries was determined on the basis of an analysis of economic growth conducted annually in NATO by the Defense Planning Committee. It was thought at the time that the Alliance should aim to work on strengthening ground-based aerial surveillance capabilities, complemented where possible by other already operational and airborne reconnaissance systems interoperable with new integrated systems owned by several countries.
From the outset, it was expected that, thanks to the forward pace of economic growth, the NATO AGS ground surveillance system would be able to rely on several types of ground surveillance systems. All existing national systems capable of monitoring the situation are taken into account. The concepts of building the American version of the TIPS system (Transatlantic Industrial Proposed Solution) or the European version based on the development of a new airborne radar are considered; The European initiative is called SOSTAR (Stand off Surveillance Target Acquisition Radar). However, all these attempts by groups of states with different views on the creation of new capabilities did not receive sufficient support from the North Atlantic Alliance to begin their implementation. The main reason for the disagreement of the NATO countries was the division into those countries that supported the idea of using the US radar program TCAR (Transatlantic Cooperative Advanced Radar) and those that insisted on the European proposal (SOSTAR).
In September 1999, shortly after Poland's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance, we joined the broad group of NATO countries that actively supported this important alliance initiative. At that time, the conflict in the Balkans continued, and it was difficult to rule out that the situation in the world would be free from further crises or even wars. Therefore, in this situation, such opportunities were considered necessary.
In 2001, following the terrorist attacks on the United States, the North Atlantic Council decided to revive the idea of building a NATO AGS system by launching a development program available to all member states. In 2004, NATO decided to make a choice, which meant a compromise between the positions of European countries and the United States. Based on this compromise, a decision was made to jointly create a fleet of mixed NATO AGS manned and unmanned aerial vehicles. The air segment of NATO AGS was to consist of European manned aircraft Airbus A321 and reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles manufactured by the American industry BSP RQ-4 Global Hawk. The NATO AGS ground segment was to include a wide range of fixed and mobile ground stations capable of transmitting data from the system to selected users.
In 2007, due to the ever-smaller defense budgets of European countries, NATO countries decided to stop further work on the implementation of a rather expensive version of a mixed fleet of NATO AGS aircraft platforms, and instead proposed a cheaper and simplified version of building a NATO AGS system in which the NATO AGS air segment was supposed to be based only on proven unmanned reconnaissance aircraft, i.e. in practice, this meant acquiring the American Global Hawk Block 40 UAV. At that time, it was the only fully operational unmanned aircraft in NATO of countries classified as the largest class III in NATO, in addition to the High Altitude, Long Endurance (HALE) category and the associated MP radar -RTIP (Multi Platform Radar Technology Insertion Program).
According to the manufacturer, the radar was capable of detecting and tracking mobile ground targets, mapping the terrain, as well as monitoring air targets, including low-altitude cruise missiles, in all weather conditions, day and night. The radar is based on AESA (Active Electronics Scanned Array) technology.
In February 2009, NATO member states still participating in the program (not all) began the process of signing the NATO AGS PMOU (Programme Memorandum of Understanding) Memorandum of Understanding. It was a document agreed between NATO countries (including Poland) who decided to actively support this initiative and take part in acquiring the necessary infrastructure for the new allied system.
At that time, Poland, in the face of an economic crisis that threatened its consequences in the spring of that year, finally decided not to sign this document and in April withdrew from this program, indicating that in a situation where the economic situation improved, it could return to active support of this important initiatives. Finally, in 2013, Poland returned to the group of NATO countries still participating in the program and, as the fifteenth of them, decided to jointly complete this important initiative of the North Atlantic Alliance. The program included the following countries: Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Luxembourg, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Norway, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the USA.
