A new development in battlefield geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) that will provide significantly improved situational awareness for the British Army has been delivered by Lockheed Martin UK Information Systems & Global Solutions (IS&GS) and its industry team, Team SOCRATES.
The team has developed a coherent set of deployable GEOINT capabilities and services under the Future Deployable GEOINT (FDG) programme, which will be provided to the UK’s Joint Force Intelligence Group (JFIG).
FDG provides soldiers with field deployable GEOINT exploitation and map production capabilities to support strategic to tactical level operations. It will enable commanders to dynamically and rapidly brief and equip their frontline troops for operations with up-to-date, customised and digital GEOINT.
The TIGAS (Tactical Information and Geospatial Analysis System) technology consolidates, enhances and extends existing battlefield GEOINT capabilities and upgrades digital geoservers, initially introduced under Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs), with new virtualised variants.
Team SOCRATES comprises Lockheed Martin UK as prime and overall systems integrator responsible for hardware and software integration; Marshall Land Systems (container design and manufacture, plus integrated logistic support); SCISYS (software and integration); Attica Consulting (security and communications); KNK (concepts and doctrine); Polaris Consulting (whole life cost modelling) and Safety Assurance Services (safety and environmental work).
The FDG system includes a fleet of 11 MOWAG Duro II 6×6 vehicles acting as a two-man tactical exploitation working environment and used for tactical information collection and GEOINT analysis. FDG also delivers three vehicle-mounted containers equipped as TMDP (tactical map distribution points) and operated by a two-man team.
“This UK-designed and built system, using Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) software, elevates the collection, dissemination and effectiveness of geospatial intelligence on the battlefield to a new level,” said Andy Hannam, director of Commercial Geospatial Intelligence for Lockheed Martin UK Information Systems & Global Solutions. “There is already strong overseas interest in the technology.”
A spokesperson for the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) IMaGE Delivery Team commented: “Future Deployable GEOINT (FDG) is a vital project that provides the MoD with improved and enhanced tactical GEOINT capabilities. Having achieved Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in August, the system is now available for tasking.”
Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security and aerospace company that employs about 116,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration, and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products, and services. The Corporation’s net sales for 2012 were $47.2 billion.
