Situational awareness will be significantly improved for the British Army following the development of a new battlefield geospatial intelligence system from Team SOCRATES, an industrial group led by Lockheed Martin UK Information Systems and Global Solutions (IS&GS) and including Marshall Land Systems.
The team has developed a coherent set of deployable GEOINT capabilities and services under the Field Deployable GEOINT (FDG) programme, which will be provided to the UK’s Joint Force Intelligence Group (JFIG).
Marshall Land Systems has been responsible for the design, manufacture, fit out and integrated logistics for the 11 shelters fitted onto MOWAG Duro II 6X6 vehicles, which provide a two person tactical working environment and form the Tactical Information and Geospatial Analysis System (TIGAS). Marshall has also delivered three deployable shelters, which are used as the Tactical Map Deployment Point (TMDP) and also staffed by two people.
"This UK designed and built system elevates the collection, dissemination and effectiveness of GEOINT on the battlefield to a new level," said Ray Cutting, Director of Marshall Land Systems, adding "We are delighted to have worked as part of Team SOCRATES under the management of Lockheed Martin to deliver this system which will provide a real added benefit for commanders in the field. The interest which is also being shown in the export market is very encouraging."
FDG provides soldiers with field deployable GEOINT exploitation and map production capabilities to support strategic and tactical level operations. It will enable commanders to dynamically and rapidly brief and equip their frontline troops for operations with up-to-date, customised and digital GEOINT.
The technology consolidates, enhances and extends existing battlefield GEOINT capabilities and integrates digital geoservers that were initially introduced under Urgent Operational Requirements (UORs) to support recent operations.
Team SOCRATES comprises Lockheed Martin UK as prime and overall systems integrator responsible for hardware and software integration; Marshall Land Systems (container design and manufacture, plus integrated logistic support); SCISYS (software and integration); Atica Consulting (security and communications); KNK (concepts and doctrine); Polaris Consulting (whole life cost modelling) and Safety Assurance Services (safety and environmental work).