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Bringing new dimensions of protection

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) seem to be everywhere these days… We read about them in the news, we see them flying in our skies, and we may even have one ourselves or know someone who does. The situation is no different for our armed forces in their operational environment: over the past few years, UAVs have become ubiquitous to the battlefield. 

Yet the stakes for our armed forces are, as you can expect, much higher! For us, these unmanned systems are either a hobby or a ‘mere’ nuisance, a worry in passing about our privacy. For our soldiers in the battlefield, they are a serious security concern. 

While we are mostly used to seeing small ones, our soldiers have to face these systems in all shapes, sizes, and configurations. Ranging from very small to medium and large, potentially armed and/or featuring surveillance capabilities, these systems may be slow or very fast, and deployed alone or in swarms - that is, multiple UAVs flying at once in coordinated patterns. This adds significantly to confusion in the battlefield, potentially saturating or blind-siding armed forces defences. 

That is why for us, at Thales, it was crucial to develop the Ground Observer 20 Multi-Mission (GO20MM), a radar that can protect our forces anytime, anywhere, be it in their camps, on the battlefield or as a column on the march. 

What is particularly great about the GO20 MM is that it provides our forces with a new dimension of situational awareness. Before, radar operators had to switch modes depending on whether they wanted to detect ground – insurgents by foot or armed vehicles – or air – UAVs in the low-level airspace or helicopters in the upper-level airspace – targets. With the GO20 MM they will now be able to enjoy permanent 3 Dimensional (3D) 360° coverage in a single mode. And because it is fitted with detection, classification and tracking capabilities, as well as a simple interface for the radar operator, armed forces will be quickly notified of incoming threats winning decisive seconds for decision-making. 

Now, you may be wondering how easy/difficult to transport such a system can be when our forces are often required to move regularly? You are right, this was also a key tactical element for us to integrate into the design of the GO20 MM. As I mentioned, armed forces need protection all the time, whether it is at their base camp, at the edge of the battlefield or whilst they are moving from point A to point B. For this reason, we designed this radar to be easily deployable: two men can set it up in less than 5 minutes or, alternatively, while on the move it can be easily integrated into mast and vehicles. 

But mobility is not only about the ability to deploy systems quickly and easily. It is also about energy autonomy. You will find this is particularly true for special forces, because they need to remain unnoticed, but it is also a key requirement for armed forces writ large as they often operate in areas where power grids or additional infrastructure are non-existent. That is why we designed the GO20 MM with a six-pack battery: it can operate for 5 hours and does not require a generator for recharging, which makes it quiet and highly transportable. Perfect to remain undetected! 

So next time you see a UAV or read an article about these systems’ many different uses, think about what this means for our armed forces and their protection. For us, at Thales, developing the GO20MM was more than the design of another detection radar; it was the opportunity to leverage years of experience to provide our armed forces with a new dimension of protection.