Defence`s Feeds

Japan and Australia plan to initially focus on enhancing underwater communication technologies under a recently signed bilateral agreement to co-develop robotics and...

Taiwan's Aerospace Industrial Development Corporation (AIDC) has delivered 27 out of 66 T-5A Brave Eagle Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) ordered by the Republic of China...

North Korea has carried out a test-firing of its Hwasal-2 cruise missile.

The British Army is considering the procurement of a new mobile short-range air defence (SHORAD) system to replace its Stormer-based self-propelled high-velocity missile...

The US Army's first M10 combat vehicle is scheduled to be delivered in February, Janes learnt at Defence iQ's International Armour Vehicles (IAV) 2024 conference held in...

Airbus and NHIndustries (NHI) are negotiating with the Australian government to harvest high-value parts and critical components from the Australian Defence Force's...

The Romanian Navy is to receive a pair of Airbus H215M helicopters equipped for anti-surface vessel warfare (ASuW), the manufacturer confirmed to Janes on 30 January.

Milanion NTGS, the UK manufacturer of the Alakran deployable mortar system, has said deliveries of the Indian Army's Vehicle Mounted Infantry Mortar System (VMIMS) are...

Boeing conducted the first flight of a production MH-139 Grey Wolf on 23 December at Leonardo Helicopters' facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the company told Janes...

The Czech Republic has signed a letter of offer and acceptance (LOA) for the procurement of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, the country's...

The US Marine Corps (USMC) is planning to select one to two companies for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the advanced reconnaissance...

Saab has inducted the first of two Global 6000 airframes for conversion to the GlobalEye airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) configuration for the Swedish Air...

The European Union (EU) awarded separate contracts to two consortiums led by Telespazio and OHB System on 23 January to explore the feasibility of exploiting the...

The Royal Netherlands Army (RNLA) is considering multiple engineering change proposals for its CV9035NL mid-life upgrade (MLU) infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), Janes...

Croatia has been cleared to buy additional Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk utility helicopters, with the US State Department granting approval for the proposed procurement on...

The United States has approved combat aircraft sales to Greece and Turkey worth a combined USD31.6 billion.

Americas Lockheed Martin Aeronautics won an $8.4 million modification, which adds scope to procure diminishing manufacturing sources in support of production, retrofit, spares, replenishment and repairs for the F-35 Lightning II program for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers, and non-US Department of Defense participants. Work will be performed in Fort […]

F-35B: off probation (click to view full) The $382 billion F-35 Joint Strike fighter program may well be the largest single global defense program in history. This major multinational program is intended to produce an “affordably stealthy” multi-role fighter that will have 3 variants: the F-35A conventional version for the US Air Force et. al.; […]

Ministers are holding a series of meetings in parliamentary committees to present the priorities of the Belgian Presidency of the Council.
Committee on Constitutional Affairs
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development
Committee on Budgets
Committee on Culture and Education
Committee on Development
Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs
Committee on Employment and Social Affairs
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety
Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Committee on International Trade
Committee on Industry, Research and Energy
Committee on Legal Affairs
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs
Committee on Fisheries
Committee on Regional Development
Committee on Transport and Tourism
Subcommittee on Security and Defence

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Across land, sea, air, space and cyber, military operations increasingly rely on data. That makes access to cloud technologies essential. A European Defence Agency-financed study has concluded that cloud computing can be applied to defence, both at the strategic level and in the field, to help European armed forces achieve information superiority against an adversary.

The EDA study over four years, ‘Cloud Intelligence for Decision Support and Analysis’ (CLAUDIA), looked at the application of civilian cloud technologies in defence, including computing capabilities, data storage and software tools hosted externally. Results of the study were presented on January 25th, with a view to follow-up activities looking at constraints to cloud computing in defence.

Given the pressures of the battlefield, such as relying on a range of connections from satellites to radios in an extreme environment, EDA’s research is crucial to increasing situational awareness and shortening reaction times across multiple domains.

As cloud technology uses virtualisation − creating a virtual version of servers, storage devices and networks using software −  the study focused on the overall advantages for defence. These are simplicity, flexibility and the ability to scale up in military environments, as well as working with ‘big data’ supported by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. These advantages can significantly improve the situational awareness and decision-making process both at strategic and tactical level.

CLAUDIA’s objective was to research using cloud technologies to support analysis of hybrid warfare including:

• Management and processing information from heterogeneous sources
• Tactical cloud infrastructure for Command, Control, Communications, Computers (C4) Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) − or C4ISR − systems
• Information-process enhancement by using AI and big data
• Joint strategic, operational and tactical level simulators
• Simulation as a Service (SaaS) for computer simulations of theatres of war (synthetic environments) and rapid scenario generation

Thanks to CLAUDIA, a Software Analysis (SWAN) platform has been developed to demonstrate the cloud-based capabilities, with different modules to address the different technology topics, including:

• Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) Analysis at the strategic level
• Tactical Cloud
• Internet of Military Things
• 5G for Tactical Cloud and AI in Wargaming

The demonstration showcased the benefits of cloud technologies with the SWAN platform at both the strategic and tactical level. Edge computing – at or near the location of either the user or the data source –  was also introduced to demonstrate the benefits of using such technologies in the field, providing real-time situational awareness with enhanced data and visual capabilities. The demonstration included simulation and wargaming for a hybrid warfare scenario, with the use of wargaming and advanced training and exercises capabilities. The study recommended making the SWAN platform available to all Member States for further testing.

EDA's wider role

EDA supports its 27 Member States in improving their defence capabilities through European cooperation. Acting as an enabler and facilitator for Ministries of Defence willing to engage in collaborative capability projects, the Agency has become the hub for European defence cooperation with expertise and networks allowing it to the whole spectrum of defence capabilities.

Member States use EDA as an intergovernmental expert platform where their collaborative projects are supported, facilitated, and implemented. For more details, please see here.