MBDA unveiled its latest Concept Visions Project, CVW101 STRATUS, Monday that it calls a transformational, innovative approach to Command & Control and Mission Control of Missile Systems across land, air and naval domains and platforms, to maximize the use of the weapon resources available in the battlespace to optimize the delivery and timeliness of effects.
“Our approach to the future battlespace places the warfighter at the center of the deployed weapon system resources with the ability to transparently use the best resources available through clear, simple presentation of information for decision
Image: MBDA
making,” said Sandro Petrizzelli, head of MBDA’s Concept Visions 2014 international team at the Farnborough International Airshow 2014. “Our aim was to deliver the concept of a distributed architecture which would optimize the operational efficiency of deployed missile systems. We are making all resources, sensors and effectors deployed in the theater available to form part of the warfighter’s local weapon system, with direct and easy access.
MBDA says STRATUS creates a theater-wide virtual weapon system, delivering tremendous efficiencies in terms of robustness, fire power, combination of effects, and reaction time.
To engage emerging types of threats, military forces will need access to many, varied weapon system assets at very short notice.
For example, immediate fire support may be needed from across the entire deployed set of weapon assets and not only from a locally deployed unit.
STRATUS brings together many key techniques: sharing weapon system resources, distributed coordination and use of a common, core interface for the command and control of all deployed and available weapon systems.
At heart, STRATUS is a principle of limitless sharing of weapon resources. Each deployed resource–launchers, control nodes and sensors–is no longer dedicated to a single weapon system, but becomes accessible, through in-built plug and fight functionality, to any equipped control node or dismounted infantry throughout the shared resource pool, leading to flexible, robust and efficient deployments.
This is combined with distributed architecture, where command and control nodes are able to auto-coordinate themselves. Taking advantage of their knowledge of available sensors and effectors, these nodes are able to propose to the user the most effective combination of available weapon resources for a given mission or task, allowing STRATUS to maximize effect capabilities in any situation.
MBDA Future Systems Director Mark Slater said: “Following five years of Concept Visions and a continuing strategy to deliver increased modularity to our missile system solutions, we are able through STRATUS to deliver greater efficiency, effectiveness and a significant reduction in the need for dedicated training for the different missile systems deployed in the future battlespace.”
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