EADS and Frequentis to Supply Two Control and Reporting Centers to German Air Force

Released on Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Via their consortium 'KOFA � GIADS', EADS Defence & Security (DS) and Frequentis Nachrichtentechnik GmbH have received an order from the Federal Office for Information Management and Information Technology of the Bundeswehr (IT-AmtBw) for the delivery of two Control and Reporting Centres (CRCs) for the German Air Force.

Defence and Communications Systems, an integrated Business Unit of DS, is the prime contractor for the battlefield management system share. Frequentis Nachrichtentechnik GmbH will be supplying the IP-based voice and data communications system KOFA-IP.

This upgrade from GIADS II to GIADS III technology essentially consists of increasing the number of workstations per CRC by one third, doubling the number of radar interfaces previously supported and partially automating and extensively expanding the functions for the reporting system. In addition, interfaces will be created to the Command and Control Information System of the German Armed Forces, the KOFA system used up to now will be equipped with the latest IP technology (KOFA-IP), and the 'Map Management' subsystem will be considerably expanded.

The first step towards realisation comprises equipping the CRC at Erndtebr�ck with GIADS III. In a second step, the German Air Force's Air Defence Programming Centre at Erndtebr�ck will be equipped with a software maintenance and modification system. Finally, the Sch�newalde CRC will be upgraded to GIADS III.

The project will run from July 2008 to October 2011. Punctual fulfilment of this contract is a basic element in the transformation of the Air Force component of the Armed Forces.

The GIADS air defence system from DS has been operational since the year 2000 with the task of military surveillance for the airspace over Germany and bordering areas. This is accomplished by processing the information about flying objects that is delivered by radar systems and presenting it on the GIADS workstations. The military air situation displayed is automatically supplemented with civil ATC data (e.g. air situation from Eurocontrol, flight schedules).

Any objects detected are automatically identified by the latest technology, which provides a continuously updated air situation picture. Here, the Sentry™ system from the subcontractor ThalesRaytheonSystems LLC performs valuable services. The air situation data is exchanged with neighbouring CRCs within the framework of the NATO Integrated Air Defence System, NATINADS. The air situation picture, along with information relevant to the assignment, is put at the disposal of other activities and CRCs.

Through the KOFA-IP, Frequentis is expanding the GIADS CRC electronics to provide improved workstations for IP-based voice and data communication, including a voice recording system. In addition, a wide range of IT services is integrated via the same IP infrastructure. The advantages of this IP-based system lie in the networking of all the voice and data interfaces and the inter-system functionality, which provides interoperability and flexibility. This is the prerequisite for seamless communication between the voice and data media. By placing their faith in the latest technology offered by this trailblazing system, the German Armed Forces are set to become world leaders in this field.