Live presentation: Protective Shield for defending threatened forward operating bases

The more than 200 guests invited to Rheinmetall's proving ground in Unterlüß, Germany, at the end of September 2005 were suitably impressed by the capabilities of the company's new Protective Shield system. Representatives of the German military, the Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigation, members of the German Parliament and international delegations gathered for the three-day presentation to find out more about Protective Shield, Rheinmetall's modular protection concept for protecting our armed forces from asymmetric threats. The current threat to forward operating bases all over the world prompted the company's decision to create a modular protection system that can be tailored to different scenarios.







Klaus Eberhardt, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Düsseldorf-based Rheinmetall Group, explained that Rheinmetall launched the concept at its own initiative and using its own funds, the aim being to close existing capabilities gaps. In front of an audience of experts, the company presented networked solutions and products from all of the Group's divisions, integrated into a complete demonstrator system. "We have integrated existing technologies and have adopted a pragmatic approach; in other words we intend to offer our customers solutions that are available today and not concepts that will take years to materialize", declares Eberhardt.

Representatives from numerous German military bodies–including the Army Office, the Federal Ministry of Defence, Forces Command, the Air Force Office, Planning and Operations Command, and the Special Operations Forces–were given ample opportunity to examine the capabilities of the company's networked command and control, reconnaissance, and effector systems.

Live demonstrations showed how messages from security installations are processed in the Operations Centre–the heart of the Protective Shield–and how countermeasures are taken. The Protective Shield system proved highly effective in every case–whether in using security cameras to monitor persons approaching the perimeter fence, in detecting snipers in the area of operations with the Sniper Location System, or in shooting down incoming mortar rounds with Rheinmetall's state-of-the-art Skyshield air defence system.





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Re: Live presentation: Protective Shield for defending threatened forward operating b

US forces in Iraq would probably love this system. This system can set up all over a base and incoming mortar rounds can be shot down. How expensive is this new system? From the looks of it, it looks a little pricey.

dont know how much it costs but skyshield has been tested by us army already

Combined and networked operations: RDE employs NEC experimental environment to test new capabilities



Interoperability is the order of the day in modern armed forces. By enabling different components of the military to work together more effectively, the aim is to create new capabilities. New mission scenarios such as peacekeeping call for new capabilities based on networked communication, which is critical in shaping force transformation.

The armed forces of the United States and Nato currently being restructured and re-equipped as part of the process of force transformation. In future, our armed forces will operate in a multinational, combined arms mode, meaning that the armies, navies and air forces of various nations will increasingly conduct combined operations in a networked environment.

Special new capabilities – so-called Network Enabled Capabilities (NEC) – play a critical role in this context: at every echelon sensors, effectors, C4I and support systems will be woven into a network by means of an IT architecture.



An operation to take out a terrorist camp is a particularly realistic scenario for Network-Enabled Capabilities. In future it is quite conceivable that intelligence information – possibly gathered by an AWACS aircraft – would be automatically transmitted via data link to a frigate on patrol near the coastline. The frigate could send the information to a KZO reconnaissance drone, which would be able to deliver more accurate images of the potential target. Again via data link, the unmanned air vehicle would then provide the data to all other units at the same time and online. At headquarters, an informed decision as to whether to attack the target could then be reached very quickly because all of the information is already available at all the stations.

In an experimental NEC environment, Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH (RDE) of Bremen is currently investigating how highly diverse defence systems could work together in future conflicts. The company is developing and testing mission scenarios in which highly automated processes support communication between sensor and weapon systems.

At present, it is often necessary to transfer data from various systems manually because the system interfaces are incompatible. Network-enabled systems will help overcome such incompatibilities in communication.

An operation to take out a terrorist camp is a particularly realistic scenario for Network-Enabled Capabilities. In future it is quite conceivable that intelligence information – possibly gathered by an AWACS aircraft – would be automatically transmitted via data link to a frigate on patrol near the coastline. The frigate could send the information to a KZO reconnaissance drone, which would be able to deliver more accurate images of the potential target. Again via data link, the unmanned air vehicle would then provide the data to all other units at the same time and online. At headquarters, an informed decision as to whether to attack the target could then be reached very quickly because all of the information is already available at all the stations.

A similar approach could be adopted for monitoring airspace, in which automated air- and ground-based reconnaissance assets operate together, transmitting near real-time situation data to all systems and stations in the network, thus enabling an antiaircraft site (once again largely automated) to engage an approaching aerial target. The open architecture of interfaces, including those from other manufacturers, is crucial to the success of such scenarios.

Rheinmetall Defence Electronics GmbH is the first company to have met the Bundeswehr's requirement of combining previously fielded sensors and effectors in an experimental environment. RDE's NEC demonstrator is essentially composed of components developed by the company and already in service with the Bundeswehr.

A vast variety of scenarios can be played out using this process. For instance, a scenario in which three command elements are interlinked: those of a Fennek reconnaissance vehicle, a tank platoon leader and an individual tank. In this experiment, the three vehicle command systems are networked via tactical radio. Further participants in this command network include a LeFlaSys light air defence system and two command system workstations at battalion or brigade level.

The experiment shows how communication in a network of this type actually operates, as well as in much more complex tactical environments involving, for example, the interlinked deployment of an M109 A2 self-propelled howitzer, a Tares combat drone, a Fennek reconnaissance vehicle and a KZO reconnaissance UAV.

Also included in the equation is RDE's TacSi tactical simulation system, which provides the required virtual real-time simulation as well as a highly realistic tactical environment, featuring vehicle positions, speeds, detected targets and weapon effects – all displayed in a combined network of the type to be employed in future.

The experimental environment is used to identify deficits and obstacles and to demonstrate the effectiveness of a given configuration. The results of such experiments are taken into account when designing networked systems intended to support force transformation.