Better situational awareness, faster response times and better communication. These are three of the many advantages that the Royal Danish Army’s Tactical Communication Network is currently enjoying with the latest version of SitaWare Frontline software, now being deployed on 13 CV90 IFVs.
Frontline is one of the modules in the SitaWare IT solution, a unique command and control system that helps soldiers at all tactical levels towards better collaboration, greater security and more effective communication.
Frontline gives users a tool that looks a lot like Google Maps, and which can be accessed by all operational units. Via his/her tablet, each individual soldier has an overview of areas occupied by their own forces and by those of any opposing forces. Each soldier can add his/her own observations to this overview, and this additional information will then automatically become visible to everyone else in the unit.
“We are very pleased with SitaWare Frontline, which – in our first experience – improves our tactical overview and improves our ability to analyse, decide and perform operations faster than any opposing forces. At the same time, Frontline reduces the risk of friendly fire incidents and makes it easier for different services to work together. We therefore have great expectations for a future featuring Frontline,” explains Lieutenant Colonel Michael Engholm, who is in charge of the Danish Army’s Tactical Communication Network project.
Group Senior Vice President, Defence Department, Henrik Messell, highlights that Frontline provides great opportunities.
“With SitaWare Frontline, the soldiers get a tool that gives them an improved overview of the combat situation, along with the ability to alter and share plans quickly – thus providing good opportunities for moving at a faster pace than before,” he says.
One key feature of Frontline lies in “friendly force tracking”. All friendly forces on the user’s screen are marked with a blue pin, which moves automatically when the soldier moves. This means units always have an overview of where soldiers are located – and with Frontline there is greater focus on reducing the likelihood and number of friendly fire incidents.
“Another key feature of Frontline lies in the ability to share information about hostile forces. As soon as a soldier sees a hostile combatant somewhere, he or she simply touches the screen. Within seconds, everyone else also knows where the enemy is. This is a major reason for us being able to ramp up our pace of operations,” explains Henrik Messell.
At the same time, Frontline provides good opportunities to share plans as well as diagrams and other practical information. When soldiers discover something suspicious, they can take pictures of it, write a text to explain things or draw routes. The other units can access these just a few seconds later – and so everyone can react quickly.
Michael Holm, CEO of Systematic, adds some additional perspective:
“Command and control (C2) systems for use of defence forces have been one of Systematic’s primary fields of focus ever since 1985, and we are proud to be leading the market with sales to over 20 countries, including the US Army. It’s a pleasure to work closely with our customers and hear their many positive responses about the difference SitaWare makes for both the individual soldier and entire military forces.”
Soldiers from the 1st Armoured Infantry Company in the 1st Battalion of the Danish Royal Life Guards will be the first to take Frontline into use, after which this software module is set to be introduced into the majority of the Danish Army’s operational vehicles, including its tanks and the newly purchased Piranha 5 APCs.
