Ireland connects all forces through SitaWare
Ireland turns strategic vision to deployed system with software from Systematic. Learn how Ireland has managed to connect their forces in the air, on the ground and at sea – a vision that became reality with SitaWare software.
Ireland has developed a Joint Common Operational Picture (JCOP) connecting the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps, which makes nations around the world look to Ireland.
Commandant Barbour of the Irish Air Corps, explained “In our opinion, a unified platform is the way forward for relatively small nations like Ireland. We use SitaWare to place data in the Joint Common Operational Picture, and Systematic has helped us to implement it on all platforms, the Irish Air Corps being the latest”.
In our opinion, a unified platform is the way forward for relatively small nations like Ireland.
In short, it means that now the Army, the Naval Service and the Air Corps can share the same operational pictures, which is a force multiplier, increasing Operational Capability, reducing reaction times while achieving efficiency savings through the optimisation of limited resources.
Lieutenant Commander, Brian Mathews, sums up the expectations Ireland has for their new system build with software from Systematic.
“We expect more agile interoperability, increased speed, efficiency and enhanced naval reach as the Air Corps and Naval Service are now capable of sharing data,” Lt Cdr Mathews.
Commandant Barbour is the Air Corps project lead on the Air Corps Operational Picture, the project to fuse and display critical tactically Air data into the Joint Common Operational Picture through SitaWare.
He considers the relative size of Ireland Defence Force a strategic advantage, which has been brought into play with SitaWare.
“Our size makes us agile and manoeuvrable, which is an advantage we have used to realise our vision - to build and implement a Joint Common Operational Picture, which also has made us capable of performing in a more coordinated way and thereby increasing safety,” said Commandant Barbour.
We expect more agile interoperability, increased speed, efficiency and enhanced naval reach as the Air Corps and Naval Service are now capable of sharing data.
The solution in Ireland has generated significant interest from other nations.
“We are happy to share our knowledge and experiences. We believe in working together and sharing knowledge is the way forward in making a difference,” says Commandant Barbour.
Ireland wanted a product with proven interoperability and a product used by nations that Ireland partners with.
“We found that in SitaWare. Furthermore, Systematic understands us, and the environment we operate in. They understood our vision and they engaged with us to build the right setup for Ireland,” says Lt Cdr Mathews.
During the SitaWare User Forum 2016 in Slovenia, Commandant Barbour gave a talk on the development and implementation of the Irish Air Corps Sitaware program, which is delivering regular and reliable feeds into the Defence Forces' JCOP along with the award winning Naval Services Recognised Maritime Picture and the Army’s Land Component Picture.
