Rheinmetall Sensor Command and Control Planning Suite at DSEI 2017.

The battlefields of the 21st century are more and more digitized. Today’s warriors follow the doctrine of network-enabled warfare. Battle management and command and control systems (BMC4I networks) seamlessly connect individual soldiers on the ground with sensors and weapons systems of all services, markedly enhancing overall operational effectiveness.

A key tool for network-enabled operations is Rheinmetall’s Sensor Command and Control Planning Suite, or SC2PS. This innovative tool is on show at Rheinmetall’s stand at DSEI 2017.

The Sensor Command and Control Planning Suite is a real-time, multi-sensor application for exploiting data from soldier systems, ground-based sensor sources, tactical aerostats and UAVs. SC2PS gives commanders a powerful tool for sensor mission planning, post-mission analysis, reporting and decision-making. SC2PS data is both Multilateral Interoperability Program (MIP) compliant and Coalition Shared Data (CSD) compatible. Among other things, SC2PS is used by the military to simplify the planning of sensor deployments for optimizing sensor performance and coverage. For example, SC2PS has helped to manage and optimize the performance of persistent surveillance systems, persistent surveillance aerostats and UAVs in Canada and the United States. An SC2PS Android hand-held version is also available and provides a portable sensor exploitation capability.

Highly versatile, SC2PS adds metadata to the sensor imagery from various electro-optical systems, including daylight cameras, LLLTV and thermal imagers mounted on towers, as well as aerostats, UAVs, soldier systems, vehicles, etc. Sensor data such as field of view, range, and target coordinates are displayed in real time. Map overlays with symbology, control elements, sensor position and field of view can be generated. SC2PS allows rapid generation of digital geo-referenced target reports with video and snapshots. Reports can be forwarded in real time to local or central control for immediate action. Today SC2PS is in service with the Royal Canadian Army, Navy and Air Force and Special Forces units as well as a Middle Eastern nation. Certain planning functions of the SC2PS application form part of the Royal Netherlands Army’s future ground-based air defence system.