Network Centric Warfare: Army's new backbone | ADM November 2011

Julian Kerr | Sydney

Army’s new unit-level Battle Management System (BMS) has passed its first exercise-level test with flying colours and battalion-level capability is expected to be reached in 2012.

The new technology provides commanders and troops from Brigade level down to four-strong fire teams with a quantum leap in situational awareness, wide access to navigational information, and enhanced radio coverage.

Deployment of the capability during June’s Exercise Talisman Sabre came only 15 months after a $331 million contract was signed with Elbit Systems for its TORCH Battle Group Command, Control and Communications (BGC3) system.

This brings together the BMS requirements within elements of Land 75 and Land 125 (conveniently abbreviated to Land 200) together with the digital communications backbone provided separately under JP 2072 Battlefield Communications System (Land).

The capabilities comprise BMS for dismounted (BMS-D) and for mounted operations (BMS-M). A Command Post variant is suitable for both types of operations and is used in conjunction with the  Battlefield Command Support System (BCSS) software.

The system includes a terrestrial-based encrypted Combat Radio System (CRS) and a Tactical Data Radio System (TDRS) to support BMS-generated data and existing voice services within a Battle Group; the Tiger Network Management System (NMS) which sits as a layer within the communications architecture and electronically integrates, configures, monitors and controls the BMS radio systems; and the BCSS.

Grant Sanderson, Vice President Business Development for Elbit Systems Australia and  a former Special Forces officer, says the BMS is already generating a fundamental transformation in the way Army operates.

This view was echoed by a Defence spokesperson, who said Army users at Talisman Sabre rated the system as a ‘game changer’.

“Already significant changes to the routine battle rhythm of field units are possible because of the improved communications, situational awareness and the automatic compilation of reports”, the spokesperson said.

The initial tranche of equipment has gone to 7 Brigade in Brisbane, with the mounted kit fitted in a number of the brigade’s Bushmasters where it has been integrated with the Thales SOTAS IP vehicle communications system. 

SOTAS forms the core of the vehicles’ internal and external communications systems, integrating the BMS, radios, telephone and IP services, and providing interoperability between UHF, VHF and HF radio networks and with wide area networks.

With battalion-level capability expected to be achieved in 2012, this indicates the program is well on track to meet the network centric objectives published in the 2009 NCW Roadmap.

 Full operational capability for 7 Brigade is anticipated in 2013, after which BMS will be rolled out to 1 Brigade, then 3 Brigade in a process which is scheduled to be completed in 2017, but might be accelerated.

Under Land 200 tranche 1 there are no plans to extend the BMSD-D to individual soldier level. The Defence spokesperson said the level to which BMS-D would extend under future phases would be determined by the size, weight and power demands of the next generation of Soldier Radio and BMS computing being sought under Tranche 2, and the lessons learnt by Army under the current tranche.

Talisman Sabre saw a ‘slice’ of the BMS capability deployed  throughout 7 Brigade. This involved  mounted and dismounted systems used at all levels to improve the ability of Brigade headquarters to monitor and control subordinate units, producing an outcome officially described as “very successful”.

Australia is the first major international customer to select the Elbit BMS. The first Israeli brigade exercise in which everyone was equipped with the BMS took place in the Golan in mid-September, meaning Australia is about two years behind the Israeli ramp up.

“But we’re a good way ahead of the rest of the world,” states Sanderson, who sees the challenges in commissioning the system focusing on accelerating the internal procedures for vehicle installation, maintaining the tempo of the training carried out by Elbit and Army, and ensuring through life support and sustainment.

The BMS is developed into a series of node types which are provisioned to units to support their structure and role. Some variations include:

BMS-D – dismounted Platoon HQ level and above:  Two radios (Raytheon EPLRS microlite high bandwidth data and Harris AN/PRC-152 (C) multiband handheld) plus the existing Personal Role Radio (PRR) – with touchscreen (an Elbit militarised Enhanced Tactical computer) and eyepiece. The eyepiece comprises a small screen, mouse controls and a rubber ‘shutter’ for nighttime operations which allows the screen to be viewed only when placed up against the eye.

BMS-D light for section level and below: Single AN/PRC-152 (C) plus PRR and eyepiece.

BMS-ML – mounted logistics node: Single screen, EPLRS and AN/PRC-152 in a vehicle amplifier

BMS-CP-VM – Command Post Mounted for Company HQ and higher: Three screens and up to six radios for BMS and voice requirements (multiple AN/PRC-152 including one providing TACSAT; Harris PRC-150(C) HF manpack.

A $4.9 million contract was awarded to BAE Systems Australia in June by Elbit to prepare some 777 military vehicles, ranging from Bushmasters and M113 A1 armoured personal carriers to Mack trucks and Unimogs, for BMS installation.

In the case of the Bushmasters and M113s, Thales and BAE Systems respectively have been involved  in the initial design phase not only to aid systems integration, but also to ensure the integrity of the vehicles’ blast protection. 

Capability Development Group is currently preparing the next tranche of the program (Land 75 Phase 4/JP2072 Phase 3) for consideration by government, and this seems likely to include BMS installation in the ASLAVs of  7 and 1 Brigades.

Defence says all platforms employed by Army will eventually be fitted with or be capable of being fitted with a BMS, thus clearing uncertainty about whether the Abrams main battle tanks and the Tiger armed reconnaissance helicopters would also be incorporated in the program.

As Sanderson describes it: “The battalion commander all the way down to the lance-corporal have a digital map in front of them, and everyone can see on the screen where everybody else is, the location of various fire support elements, the whereabouts of movement tracks.

“They can put diagrams on those screens and update them as the enemy picture changes. Tasking can arrive immediately through the network and they can receive both data and voice simultaneously, so they can talk to one another while they’re looking at their screens and undertake detailed planning on a common map regardless of how far apart they are on the battlefield.

“And if there’s a UAV flying over and it’s got a radio with the Tiger NMS you can search the BMS and pull down that data whether or not the UAV or the operators know you’re doing it.”

Tiger has the additional benefit of managing priorities within available bandwidth and routing messages without the sender having to worry about how it would be done, Sanderson adds.

“The American systems have a lot of people managing address books and architectures and radio network hierarchies whereas in our system it’s all done automatically, it’s quite brilliant.”   

Subject: Land