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Newsletter   February 2004

Contents

BOWMAN and Land Digitisation

Aircraft security and the safety of passengers

Space: Inspiring the next generation

Spotlight on air transport information in the news

International security and international relations Web sites (Part 2)

Site of the month: SETI@Home



© Cranfield University 2004. Find out more about AERADE.

  BOWMAN and Land Digitisation

This article was kindly written by Major Bob Seddon, Chief of Staff, BOWMAN and Land Digitization Integrated Project Team

OVERVIEW

The UK's Land Digitization programme will enhance military effectiveness by improving the timeliness, efficiency and consistency of the acquisition, processing, distribution and presentation of operational information. It is an important enabler for the Network Enabled Capability (NEC) initiative announced by the Secretary of State in July, as part of the Strategic Defence Review: A New Chapter.

BOWMAN will replace the CLANSMAN range of radios. The CLANSMAN system continues to deliver an acceptable level of performance and is fully supportable. However it is 1970s technology and although it is possible that a simple radio replacement could probably have been procured earlier, this was not the requirement, and the BOWMAN programme is intended to deliver a much greater capability than a simple radio upgrade.

BOWMAN

BOWMAN is a fully integrated communications and information system and is a key enabler project for the UK's Network Centric Capability initiative. Replacing the CLANSMAN combat radio and the HQ Infrastructure element of the PTARMIGAN trunk system, BOWMAN will provide tactical, secure voice communications, data messaging, location information and a number of other capabilities for all three Services, in support of land and littoral operations, at least until 2026.

It is planned to fit BOWMAN equipment to 20,000 military vehicles, 156 ships and 276 aircraft. Around 70,000 trained service personnel will use it and more than 46,500 radios and 26,000 computers will be procured.

BOWMAN HARDWARE

A significant proportion of the BOWMAN hardware is Military Off The Shelf (MOTS), although modifications have been made to cover the requirement for UK high-grade cryptographic products. BOWMAN is required to match demanding environmental requirements in order to be able to support the full range and spectrum of military operations. These requirements will be tested fully in a wide ranging set of acceptance tests and field trials. BOWMAN and Land Digitization is a highly complex, software based system and there are non-trivial integration issues to be addressed to bring the system into service.

BOWMAN - ENHANCED CAPABILITY

BOWMAN will provide a step change in capability in a number of areas, notably:
  • Combat Net Radio (CNR) - CNR will move to a fully secure solution, at both HF and VHF, reaching into the trench at Section level. The radios will offer a variety of communications modes, including Fixed Frequency (FF), Free Channel Search (FCS) and Frequency Hopping at VHF, with FF, FH and Automatic Link Establishment (ALE) at HF. In addition, the radios will support both voice and data operation. The BOWMAN radios will be capable of operating in an adverse electronic environment.
  • User Data Service - BOWMAN will provide a User Data Service to enable non-voice communications between users. Access to the User Data Service will be enabled via a range of Data Terminals. These will include Management Terminals, Vehicle User Data Terminals (VUDTs), Dismountable User Data Terminals (DUDTs) and Personal User Data Terminals (PUDTs).
  • Tactical Internet - The BOWMAN system will enable the user to create and use Internet links for data Communities of Interest, which will be autonomous and capable of being provided in any theatre in the world, without the need for any other communications systems to be deployed. It will facilitate the passage of IP data traffic via a combination of interconnected HF, VHF and High Capacity Data Radio (HCDR) networks.
  • Automatic Position Location Navigation & Reporting (APLNR) - BOWMAN will enable the user to carry out a range of APLNR functions, either via the Portable, Manpack or Mounted Manpack Role radios or, through a User Data Terminal (UDT) connected to a radio or Vehicle Internal Distribution System (VIDS).
  • Interoperability - BOWMAN will enable the user to achieve secure voice interoperability with those radios which utilise specified secure equipments and which have adopted the appropriate NATO agreements.
  • Local Area Sub System (LAS) - The BOWMAN LAS is established by connecting individual vehicles fitted with an appropriate Vehicle Internal Distribution System (VIDS) to a pre-determined group of vehicles by use of the Vehicle External Distribution System (VEDS). This facilitates inter-platform communications and enables the receipt of exported radio nets from other other platforms on a common VEDS network.
In the short term, the aim is to provide core capabilities such as digitized artillery fire control, air defence and NBC defence. These additional systems will be integrated with CIP with the aim of them entering service coincident with BOWMAN in March 2004. The Integrated Project Team leads on the technical coherence of these component systems, as well as co-ordinating delivery and acceptance. This involves working very closely with the respective Defence Procurement Agency IPTs.

FURTHER INFORMATION

1. BOWMAN and Land Digitization Integrated Project Team
2. Defence Logistics Organisation : BLD IPT
3. Acquisition Management System (AMS)
4. Lessons Learned From Recent UK Land Formation C2 Experiments / David J Baker
5. Lessons from the UK Land Tactical HQ Research Exercise FIRST BASE / Andrew H Smith