News

2021-12-05

Airbus, Northrop Lead Team to Shape NATO’s AFSC Programme

Northrop Grumman Corporation and Airbus Defence and Space have teamed up with seven other industrial players to establish ASPAARO, the Atlantic Strategic Partnership for Advanced All-domain Resilient Operations.

The ASPAARO team aims to deliver next-generation multi-domain surveillance and command and control solutions to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

The industry team will leverage advanced technologies and integrated designs to pave the way to a fully interoperable architecture between NATO nations while driving innovation through combined access, investments and experience.

The team will essentially bid to undertake the Risk Reduction and Feasibility Studies (RRFS) for the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) as part of the Alliance Future Surveillance and Control (AFSC) programme.

The other members of the transatlantic team include Lockheed Martin (U.S.), BAE Systems (UK), KONGSBERG (Norway), MDA (Canada), GMV (Spain), Exence (Poland) and IBM (U.S.).

The NSPA brings together, in a single organisation, acquisition, logistic, medical and infrastructural capabilities, operational and systems support and services to the NATO nations, NATO Military Authorities and partner nations.

As NATO’s primary enabler, its mission is to provide effective and cost efficient multinational solutions to the Alliance, its 30 Nations and Partners.

The feasibility studies are a key milestone in the AFSC programme which aims to support NATO nations as they consider the Alliance’s future tactical surveillance, command and control capabilities after the current Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) fleet reaches the end of its service life in 2035.

AFSC initiative

Through the AFSC initiative, NATO is fundamentally redefining how it will conduct surveillance, and command and control in the future. In order to take account of future threats and emerging technologies, NATO is working with experts from science, technology, industry and the military fields to encourage innovative solutions.

The organisation is studying a range of new technologies and different options to replace the AWACS aircraft – NATO’s “eyes in the sky.” These could include different combinations of systems in the air, on land, at sea, in space, and in cyber space. NATO’s AFSC requirements could be met through a combination of national, multinational, and NATO-funded solutions.

NATO has agreed high-level requirements to define what is needed from the future systems and to ensure Allied capabilities are able to operate as a fully integrated force.

AFSC is managed by a project office hosted by the NSPA located in Luxembourg. It currently has a budget of up to EUR 118.2 million under the NATO Security Investment Programme.

Following the delivery of a High-level Technical Concept in 2020 by three of the team members (Airbus, Lockheed Martin and MDA Ltd.), Airbus continues to support NATO in the concept stage of the AFSC programme together with Northrop Grumman and other members of the team. ASPAARO offers a special set of skills and capabilities that is expected to address the threats of today and tomorrow and fulfil the Alliance’s requirements across all domains.

Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space, explained: “Cutting-edge surveillance and control systems are at the heart of ensuring NATO’s continued operational success to which we are fully committed to. We feel privileged to support this strategic programme for NATO by leveraging our experience and capabilities in multi-domain operations, surveillance and intelligence. With this transatlantic teaming, we are offering our commitment to provide the Atlantic Alliance with the most powerful technological solutions to ensure it stays ahead of the curve in tomorrow’s multi-domain-driven theatres of operation.”

Northrop Grumman President of Aeronautics Systems Tom Jones emphasised ASPAARO’s focus on the NATO customer’s mission requirements. “ASPAARO brings together the best industrial capabilities across the NATO community to address increasingly vital surveillance and command and control needs. In a rapidly evolving threat environment, NATO needs the strategic advantage that advanced surveillance and control provides; ASPAARO is committed to delivering those unmatched capabilities to the NATO AFSC programme,” he pointed out.

A decision on the contract award for the Risk Reduction and Feasibility Studies for NATO AFSC is expected in 2022.

Security analytics software company Cognyte Software Ltd. participated in the eighth edition of Expodefensa 2021, the leading hub for Defence and Security in Latin America and the Caribbean, and presented its solutions for law enforcement, military and other security organisations, aimed at turning their data into actionable insights.

Despite the globally challenging situation on professional events, Expodefensa successfully managed its preparation for the eighth edition that took place from November 29 to December 1 in a physical format in Bagota, Colombia.

The exhibition saw the participation of several national pavilions, including Israel, Brazil, France, Spain and the U.S..

Expodefensa’s first edition was held in 2009 in Bogotá, as part of the project of the Ministry of National Defence of Colombia to present the capabilities of its armed forces to key international players.

Since 2015, the Mindefensa (Codaltec)-Corferias-Coges alliance has developed Expodefensa, making it the main hub for defence and security in Latin America and the Caribbean, where international exhibitors present their systems and products to respond to a growing regional demand.

Among Cognyte’s portfolio presented at the event were Web Intelligence solutions, Blockchain analytics, Analytics Platform to fuse and analyse data to identify patterns and connections across time and space while utilising artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) for increasingly accurate performance.

Amit Daniel, Cognyte CMO, highlighted: “Cognyte’s Analytics Platform is an all-source investigation platform that fuses siloed data from multiple security repositories into a single unified data pool. It then applies AI, ML, and advanced analytics to create a holistic investigation picture, reveal connections and highlight insights to obtain evidence faster to put criminals behind bars.”

Complex Challenges

Security organisations today are facing complex challenges such as Internet Protocol (IP) encryption and blockchain analysis. In addition, data volumes are rapidly growing and are siloed in disparate databases, preventing critical pieces of information from being fused, correlated and leveraged.

Daniel added: “These two trends require that security organisations adopt a new holistic approach to enable them to fuse data and generate insights in order to gain an intelligence edge. By implementing our Analytics Platform, governmental security organisations in Latin America will be able to overcome complex investigations, such as the battle against serious and organised crime and narco-traffic operations.”

Cognyte (formerly a Verint company) empowers governments and enterprises with Actionable Intelligence for a Safer World. Over 1,000 government and enterprise customers in more than 100 countries utilise Cognyte’s solutions to accelerate security investigations and connect the dots to successfully identify, neutralise, and prevent threats to national security, business continuity, and cyber security.

Comments () Views (11068 ) Print

Send To Friend