C4I Naval Comms: SEA 1442 set for November milestone | ADM Nov 08
Gregor Ferguson
By the time this edition of ADM is published Thales Australia expects to have achieved the final design milestone for Phase 3 of Project SEA 1442 – Maritime Communications Modernisation, ahead of schedule.
SEA 1442 Phase 3 is intended to support the RAN’s Network Centric Warfare (NCW) ambitions.
It will see the design of a Maritime Tactical Wide Area Network (MTWAN) and an upgraded Message Handling System (MHS) to go aboard all of the RAN’s four FFG frigates, eight Anzac-class frigates, the two LPAs and HMAS Success.
The MTWAN is designed to migrate the RAN from a stove-piped, analogue communications environment to a more open, integrated Internet Protocol (IP) based digital environment.
Based principally on COTS equipment, the MTWAN integrates the communications equipment and bearers being acquired under other projects such as JP 2008 - MILSATCOM and NMP 1840 – Enhanced INMARSAT.
The MTWAN uses packet-based switching and Quality-of-Service (QoS) to enable applications on all of the different Local Area Networks (LAN) onboard the ships to access line-of-sight and beyond-line-of-sight communications bearers.
By more efficient use of these disparate bearers, the system reduces the RAN’s dependence upon the commercial INMARSAT system and allows for the ship’s CIS capability to easily and quickly adapt to changing operational environments.
Importantly, to ensure interoperability within the RAN and with the service’s coalition partners, its hardware will include network infrastructure, cryptographic devices and RF interfaces compliant with Allied Communications Publication (ACP) 200 – Maritime Tactical Wide Area Networking protocols and procedures.
What this means in practical terms is that ships in company, both Australian and Coalition, can share information directly through line-of-sight bearers, instead of traversing expensive and bandwidth limited satellite links.
Thales Australia will carry out the design, procurement, manufacture, installation and set to work and acceptance testing for all of these ships except the ANZAC class – the ANZAC Alliance will install the new MTWAN and MHS on the first Anzac frigate to be modified, with the contracting model for the rest of the Anzac fleet still to be determined, ADM was told.
Up to the job
The company’s credentials for this program were sound. It is the design authority for the internal and external communications systems aboard the ANZAC-class frigates, and had also designed, installed and set to work under JP 8001 Ph.3A/B the Deployable Joint Force HQ (DJFHQ) command and control suite aboard the two LPAs, HMAS Manoora and Kanimbla.
This was a challenging project involving the installation and integration of a networked suite of command support systems derived from the capabilities Thales had previously developed under JP 2030 – Joint Command Support System (JCSS); like SEA 1442, the afloat DJFHQ project had a tight schedule complicated by limited ship availability.
Thales Australia was awarded contracts totalling $42 million (Acquisition and Support Contracts) for SEA 1442 Ph.3 (Phases 1 and 2 were in-house study contracts) in May 2006 and started work in June of that year.
In 2007 the Thales-led team completed the System Requirements Review (SRR), System Definition Review (SDR) and Preliminary Design Review (PDR).
This was achieved through the good working relationship established between the Thales and Commonwealth Project Office teams in conjunction with Navy stakeholders.
The security, network management and quality of services were all potential areas of technical risk; these were mitigated by the use of Thales’s Network Enabled Warfare Laboratory (NEWLab) and project development activity within the Shore Integration Facility (SIF) at Garden Island.
This represented a convincing validation of the significant R&D investment in Australia by Thales.
Thales has completed the Detailed Design Review (DDR) and Support System Detailed Design Review (SSDDR) in order to complete the design stage of the project ahead of schedule.
Achieving these milestones will baseline the MTWAN design and enable the start of the production and test phase of the project.
The company plans to begin with the shore facilities late this year, followed by the first ship installation, aboard HMAS Melbourne, during the first quarter of 2009, depending on ship availability.
By maximising COTS equipment in the system design and using an open IP based architecture, through-life support will be greatly simplified, believes Thales, as they will be able to utilise proven commercial ICT practices in their support system.
These attributes will also allow the system to evolve with the ever changing military communications environment.
Thales achieves TADIL milestone
The Link 11 Tactical Data Link (TADIL) system for the RAN’s upgraded FFG frigates has been endorsed by the ADF TADIL Authority (ADFTA) for operational use.
Link 11 is a digital network which allows participating surface ships, aircraft and submarines to share their track picture and coordinate weapon and control information over a wide area.
The data is encrypted and transmitted over UHF and HF radios. TADILs are an essential part of modern joint and coalition operations and strict independent testing and certification by the ADFTA is required before units are permitted to participate in networks with other units from the ADF and with allied units.
The interoperability of the upgraded FFGs will be greatly increased compared to existing ADF platforms when upgrade prime contractor Thales Australia delivers their planned Link 16 capability.
Link 16 is a more secure, jam-resistant tactical data link with a higher bandwidth which allows greater information exchange and other features such high-fidelity positional awareness.
It is being widely rolled out on US and NATO platforms.
The architecture for implementing tactical data links on the FFG has involved separating the operator interface, track management and command and control components of the Australian Distributed Architecture Combat System (ADACS), developed by Thales Australia, from the detailed data link protocol and infrastructure functionality provided by the USN-supplied Common Data Link Management System (CDLMS).
This has allowed the ship’s command team to utilise the benefits of information sharing and inter-unit command and control largely without the concerns of managing the individual differences of each underlying link.
This architecture has also allowed Thales Australia to develop and integrate the link subsystem in a considerably shorter time, and achieve certification of the delivered Link 11 functionality with considerably fewer problems, than any previous ADF platform.
The success of the Link 11 development activity has provided great confidence that the new added Link 16 functionality, which is currently undergoing ADFTA Conformance to Standard testing, will achieve certification prior to acceptance of final FFG Upgrade software in November.