Sensor to Shooter: Elbit preferred for Land 200 | ADM Aug 08

1 August 2008

Although there has been no official announcement, ADM understands that Elbit Systems—minus their erstwhile Australian Prime, Boeing Australia—has been selected as preferred tenderer for Land 200, with Saab Systems Australia held in reserve should contract negotiations with Elbit fail.
Elbit preferred for Land 200
by Tom Muir

Project Land 200 has brought together the two distinct battle management system (BMS) requirements of L75 and L125, together with their supporting communications system—the digital backbone—that was to have been provided by the JP2072 land communications project.

Once introduced into service over the next few years, this system, officially termed the Battle Group and below Command, Control and Communications (BGC3) project, will be a key NCW capability for the land environment.

The BMS is a computer-based command and control system designed to enhance the tactical commander's ability to plan and execute operations through provision of situational awareness, navigation, messaging, tactical graphics and orders—in short the operational picture of the battlefield.

It comprises software that needs to be simple and intuitive to use and rugged hardware, handheld tablets or vehicle-mounted displays, that can survive in the combat environment.

The system operates over a tactical data exchange system to network mobile field elements and their associated headquarters.

The BMS must also form the basis of a land combat identification (Blue Force Tracking) system by providing commanders with near real-time situational awareness.

For BGC3, the BMS solution has to be capable of scaling up and remaining stable when a brigade group is operating the system (approximately 600 BMS units), as well as scaling down to platoon groups and smaller dismounted elements.

The Dismounted BMS, with its associated communications bearer, will provide commanders down to fire team level and individual soldiers, with digital map-based situational awareness and pre-formatted messaging capability.

With increased functionality the mounted BMS will provide combined arms teams in vehicles with the operational picture.

BMS-M will be deployed up to Battalion HQ level and down to troop/platoon/individual vehicle level.

Some180 vehicles are planned to be equipped with BMS-M and a further 20 vehicles with the Command Post variant.
Communications

As the digital bearer for the battlefield C2 systems, the BGC3 requirement includes a terrestrial-based Type 1 encrypted Combat Radio System (CRS) to support:

• BMS-generated data, and existing voice services within the Battle Group,

• a network management system to electronically integrate, configure, monitor and control the BMS CRS; and
• a support system to sustain the BGC3 capability.

As originally conceived a Tactical Data Voice and Services Network was to be acquired through JP 2072 comprising the hardware and software required to manage the network of BMS nodes, with the BMS variants using its digital voice and data bearer to exchange information on the network.

The network would include mounted and dismounted bearer configurations providing access to both voice and data networks.

While the scope of Land 125 had required man-wearable data radios, capable of integration with the voice-only Marconi PRR, to be supplied as part of its BMS-D specification, this was not the case with the Land 75 component.

Instead, JP 2072 Battlespace Communications (Land) was scoped to specify and provide the radios as GFE for the extended range BMS mounted variants, to be installed in vehicles, and for the mounted and dismounted command post variants.

Following termination of the JP2072 contract in October last year, and to overcome delay in acquisition through JP2072, the high priority BMS communications solution was included in the RFT for the re-scoped L75/L125 BMS, now the BGC3 project.

This requirement will be funded by JP2072.

BGC3 contenders

There were three contenders for Land 200. They were:

• Saab Systems Australia with Northrop Grumman Mission Systems, Thales Australia, Tenix Land Systems Division and Viasat,

• Elbit Systems with Boeing Australia; and

• Raytheon Australia with Cobham Defence Communications and Tenix Defence Electronic Systems.

(A fourth team, led by General Dynamics C4 Systems withdrew following GD Canada's termination from the JP 2072 contract.)

The L200 tender entered an extended evaluation phase towards the end of last year involving source selection demonstrations and a parallel offer definition activity (PODA) period.

All three teams successfully completed the Variable Message Format compliance test, undertaken at the Tactical Information Exchange Integration Office (TIEIO) in Fyshwick.

The trials continued at the Majura range where the contenders also completed laboratory and field demonstrations of their equipment, which included testing the CNR systems to support BMS generated data and voice services.

Elbit's BMS

Elbit had the advantage of bidding an integrated BGC3 battle management system solution that had been proven in service with the Israeli Defence Force (and since acquired for the Dutch armed forces).

And if true, industry talk that Elbit's offer was almost $100 million cheaper than either of the other bids, would have placed it in an almost unbeatable position.

The system Elbit has offered comprises command and control software, advanced electro-optical sensors, multi-functional displays, information and communications systems, and advanced mission systems.

In addition to its combat networking capabilities, this system provides commanders and crewmen with simplified operational interfaces, enhanced situational awareness and data communication capabilities.

Elbit says that its BMS supports every requirement of battalion-and-below tactical units, meeting all their operational needs, including direct fire engagement & manoeuvre, indirect fire support, intelligence and logistics, however we do not know whether the latter refers to the capabilities of their weapons integrated (WIN) BMS which we understand is not part of their proposal.

Among the systems developed by Elbit for the BMS is the Enhanced Tactical Computer (ETC), adaptable to a wide range of land vehicles and helicopters.

A triple Modem PCMCIA communication controller is also available from Elbit as a common building block for combat networks.

The modem is designed to support combat net radios with analog or digital interfaces.

Elbit is also integrating the Tactical MapCore system, a combat situation awareness system with moving map 3D terrain analysis and mission planning package, designed for C4I systems.

For the communications component Elbit chose the Thales AN/PRC-148 JEM radio which supports both mounted and dismounted requirements.

For mounted operations the handheld JEM is docked into a vehicle adapter, which includes an integrated audio amplifier and battery charger and increases the handheld's power output from 5W to 20W.

But ultimately Defence will decide which CRS will be selected and provided as GFE.

At the time of writing Elbit's BMS had still to undergo Parallel Offer Development Activity (PODA) #2 which involves integration with the Harris PRC-152 and the Thales PRC-148 JTRS Enhanced MBITR (JEM) with Raytheon handling the integration for Elbit.

The PODA involves the trialling of shortlisted systems and their networks on a field scale, believed equivalent to equipping a mechanised company with dismounted soldier systems, vehicle mounted systems and command posts.

It is understood that this last phase is likely to require some 90 dismounted and vehicle integrated CR systems to be supplied by the shortlisted tenderers at very considerable cost.

There are only two Type 1 encryption JTRS-capable radios available—the Harris AN/PRC-152(C) and the Thales AN/PRC-148 (JEM).

And while tenderers were supposed to develop their BMS software independent of a particular radio—ensuring that it is interoperable with both systems—they still needed to decide which radio they would be offering, on the understanding that the winning solution might well be based on a different CRS to that originally proposed.

So it seems Defence plans to select the best digital combat radio system for L200 BMS, irrespective of the broader battle communications (land) requirements, possibly establishing a CRS stovepipe in the process.

What is unclear is whether the intention was to acquire a particular radio to meet the requirements for a Battle Group and Below combat radio system or, as would seem more logical, a radio such as the JEM or the PRC-152 to handle Company/Squadron and Below communications, with EPLRS or other higher bandwidth networking radio, for Battle Group HQ (eg Joint Task Force HQ) down to Squadron/Company.

At the Squadron/Company and above the need is for a mobile network with sufficient bandwidth to handle additional data inputs beyond those specified for the L200 BMS such as BMS-Fires and the Abrams FBCB2 BMS.

The argument here is that relying on 16 bps narrowband radios at this level leads to congestion and delays in information sharing.

Boeing's elimination

We understand that Boeing Australia was to have primed the Elbit bid but was told that it would be awarded no more contracts until problems associated with extensive delays with current major projects, such as HF Mod, Vigilare, Wedgetail and JP129 Tactical UAV, had been resolved.

Would this preclude Elbit from separately subcontracting Boeing to handle incountry support of the BMS system?

There are industry views that the DMO should have informed Boeing of its persona non grata status before it invested in the bid.

What is clear however is that Boeing's elimination had nothing to do with the quality of work that Boeing team members put into Elbit's winning offer.

They must have been bitterly disappointed at the unexpected outcome.

At the end of the day, in a competitive, market-driven Defence market, one wonders how far the DMO can go in manipulating Defence industry to bring about the results it wants.