Secret défense : les hautes technologies
- Sensors detect enemy presence in the Silver zone. - Enemy presence in Silver zone. Email Mike Tango India for confirmation. To respond to the conflicts of tomorrow, the armed forces resort to to ever more complex technologies and sophisticated. What are they ? What do high technologies bring? to modern weapons? and for what purposes are they used? Finally, does it represent always a guarantee of supremacy. - The method for imagining tomorrow is essentially a method on which we will look at the trends.
It is necessary to place a time scale. In our world we are forced to reason about deadlines which are extremely long, therefore delays which are of the order of 20 to 30 years. Of course, everything can't be done at 30. There are a number of technologies that necessarily evolve much more quickly, such as computer technology. There, we have a vision which is much more restricted, which is of the order of 5 to 10 years, but which still allows us to prepare the future in these areas.
These computing technologies extend now to all armed forces. Among these, the NEB constitutes one of its most important applications. - The NEB is in fact the digitalization of the battlespace.
This is the implementation on the battlefield procedural techniques guaranteeing the chief that he will have good information when he needs it, wherever it is on the battlefield, to decide and act faster than the adversary. This new system is given. - This is Blue, this is my position. Do you see a little blue square?
This is my position. Then I show you the positions of the entire squadron. I press the button. Every time that a message arrives, the position is updated automatically. - And all this information is available at all levels of the hierarchy. Of the soldier in his tank, up to the general in his General Staff. Everyone can have of this information.
- What I used to receive from a courier motorcycle, now, I receive it directly on my console and I can use it directly. And above all, I can retransmit it very quickly to my subordinates. If they observed an enemy or a friend request artillery fire. Previously, we were on the radio, we transmitted the coordinate ` and it took a long time. There, a subordinate plots a point on his map and transmits it to me, and I, 3 seconds later, it's at the regimental command post. Which is still exceptional.
- So here, I can display different layers on this map to get the missions that interest me. Currently, we are engaged in a collection phase. That is to say, here, in this place, I collect this unit with a vehicle that is here through the crossing points which are grayed out. From there I can add another layer, which is going to be the mines.
These are these little purple mine symbols anti-tanks that we placed last night. So here is. And then from there, we can obviously display enemy situation by creating an enemy.
There I received a message of a subordinate who is the tank one of the first squadron platoon. The important thing is that we are these coordinations, know where everyone's positions are. The fourth platoon knows where the second platoon, and vice versa.
and these axes are taken into account, which possibly allows him to fill a hole in the device. The main advantage of the NEB, it is an aid to command because transmission speed and clarity of the situation. The NEB, in other words, is the Internet, or rather the battlefield intranet. Everything is detailed there, the type and position of each vehicle, but also his situation in fuel and weapons. But who says network, also known as computer warfare. - The risk is computer hacking. So what solution do we find?
The first is through system redundancy. If a server goes down, if a server is destroyed, the information will take another path. Then this network is not open on the civilian world, it is an internal network of the force. So the risks of penetration by a hacker are diminished. But the digitalization of the battlespace does not only concern vehicles.
The infantryman, too, is integrated into the network. His feline name, infantryman with equipment and integrated link. - Félin contributes to this information soldiers on the ground, in connection with a system which is a information system at the regiment level. This information system at the level of regiment will feed the feline soldier with information that comes from the outside and who give it information about its environment. Combining many technologies, the feline's equipment is arranged around man to optimize his natural abilities.
- First of all there are technologies in the sense of the protection of the individual, nanotechnologies making it possible to achieve to materials that are lighter than current protective materials and more efficient. At least, that's what we hope. - Integrated connections, you find them on the core of the system. Here on the electronic vest. Here you have the HMI, the man-machine interface, on which the infantryman receives all this information. On the helmet, we can add the crest.
On this crest, you have 2 devices, the light intensifier camera which allows the infantrymen to move at night and the restorer that the infantryman defeats on his eye to view this IL camera. To fight the infantryman will have a FAMAS. On the FAMAS, there is a telescope of different types, either light intensifier or thermal with a whole series of buttons which allows you to use the telescope. This glasses is a glasses with video voice which allows infantrymen to use it in remote vision.
As a result, the soldier will be able to use this hidden sensor and therefore limit one's exposure to danger, if there is a sniper or if there is any danger which is at the end of the street. In urban combat, it's something which is obviously essential to be able to look around the corner without engaging a vital element of the individual. The new auxiliaries of the infantrymen, They are now the robots. This specialized mini-robot is the little latest in the mini rock robot family.
It slips and sneaks everywhere, like here for example under cars, to identify possible explosive charges. It has a front camera and a back camera. If it tips, it is designed to be able to land on its wheels.
His big brother, the scout robot. The biggest of all. 150 kilos, it reaches 13 kilometers per hour. 5 hours of autonomy, a range of 200 meters.
To increase its range of action, the robot has the ability to leave relays on his route. You can attach different modules to it depending on the missions. Infrared camera, laser camera, building mapping software or like here, telescopic mast. - In the terrestrial domain as in the naval field, we use robots today basically to do surveillance and also mine clearance. Because mine clearance is never fun. And therefore the robot allows at least to properly map the risk.
And so when the human operator intervenes, he knows exactly in what environment he is intervening. We think that in the future, this type of robot will even go as far as destruction of the mine without any difficulty. The latest in the range, Small modular robot equipped with panoramic vision, it is specially designed to climb the stairs.
- A ground drone that you put in a building and going up a stairwell will also be less exposed than a group of soldiers who do the same thing. This use of drones or robots is becoming more widespread. This robot is also capable sound detection. It can also locate an emission of smoke or heat. A scanning laser allows it to map any room in real time. See far, very far even.
Monitor, recognize. A long time, a very long time if necessary. Save images, zoom. Then retransmit these images. All without being spotted, without triggering a response. Drones are the spies of the sky. Constantly evolving in terms of technological, drones specialize depending on their mission.
On-board sensors benefit from latest vision technologies. Video cameras, infrared cameras, radar imaging, laser rangefinder, etc. These images were taken by a drone surveillance of the French army above Kabul and its surroundings. This recent model is the male, for medium altitude long endurance.
His program is in his name. Long range of action, more than 1000 kilometers. Ability to ensure, in all weathers, permanent presence in the area 24 hours a day.
It communicates with its control station either by direct connection, either by satellite for distant missions. Drones in the future, will be called to multiple missions. This computer-generated image simulation shows one of these drones equipped with a laser illuminator target designator.
High precision technology particularly effective in case of moving targets. The target identified, the information is immediately transmitted to an aircraft. The missile is then programmed on the target designated by the drone. The Hunter's Intervention above the enemy zone is thus reduced to what is strictly necessary.
But research also elaborates small drones, mini-drones and even micro-drones. - It is obvious that an infantryman which can be equipped with a mini-drone, of a very small drone, dragonfly type with a very small camera, who throws this into a building to go see what can happen, will have a definite advantage. We do not despair with nanotechnologies, being able to develop finally drones of the size of the dragonfly drone with a maximum sensors on it, or even smaller. Latest addition to European collaboration between France, Germany and Spain. The tiger is first of all a mouth. - This helicopter is a helicopter of a whole new generation.
For what ? Because by design, he uses a lot of materials composites and is stuffed with electronics. Everything is redundant, all systems digital numbers are doubled. This is also true for tanks fuel. This is true for the hydraulic system. This is also true for engines. Which could mean that we have 2 tigers in one.
Everything is multiplied by 2, including the crew. We have a pilot and a gunner. They have two slightly different functions. The pilot takes his seat at the front,
and the gunner at the rear. One of the Tiger's major assets is its stealth. He has a very narrow forehead which reduces its electromagnetic signature and it has very sharp edges, which will tend to disrupt a little bit about enemy radars. The Tiger is specially designed for stealth flight, that is to say as close as possible to the ground, at treetop level or at building height. In all cases, at heights almost undetectable by any radar.
- The Tiger is part of the chain of digitization of the battlespace. I just put on my screen secondary a Euro grid page. It is a terminal information system same title as the feline for infantrymen. He is able to receive information refreshed by the regimental information system, but it is also able to provide to this regimental information system the evolution of the situation in real time. On the Tiger we have a strix sight.
It's the viewfinder above me, on the roof of the Tiger. One can consider that it is the eye of the tiger. In fact, this strix gives me the opportunity to see through 3 ways.
A direct optical channel, a TV channel, low light level and a thermal pathway which allows us to see infrared images. This camera, I can slave it to my helmet or that of my pilot. The position of this helmet is recognized in space using an electromagnetic detector. And if I move my head, well the viewfinder will follow the movement of my head. - For everything that is part visionic.
From the tiger's helmet, we use what we calls the display module. And this display module will clip into place directly on the base helmet to form only one helmet for the entire flight. So with, we go have access to information which will come to print on the visor in the slightly greener zone that you have here. Here we will use this display module for everything that is night flying, instead of these 2 small prisms sideways on the helmet, we are going to come and insert tubes with light intensification. Night vision images will be projected on the areas semi-transparent visor.
So with this system, we have a system for day mission, night mission with shooting information. That's to say an aiming reticle for use helmet viewfinder and information on weapon selection, cannon, rockets or missiles as well as the state of the firing lines. Deep attack, support of ground troops, armed reconnaissance, convoy escort, Naval Air Forces. The Tiger is designed to meet to all its missions. It must therefore be both fast, robust, versatile, handy. In terms of weapons, the tiger is equipped with a 30 mm cannon.
Like the camera, the barrel is slaved to the pilot and gunner helmet. They just need to look at the target to point the cannon. In its standard equipment, the Tiger has 4 rocket baskets, 68 in total.
It can also be equipped Mistral air-to-air missiles. That’s nearly 200 devices that will soon will equip the French forces, Spanish and German. Networking of all stakeholders in the battlefield results in to profoundly modify the methods combat and command. We are now talking about infocentric operations, even infocentric war. Information literacy and multiple modes of communication are at the heart of this system. As such, the conquest of space represents a strategic issue.
Because it requires the management of a flow huge amount of information, Infocentric warfare is particularly suitable for combat in urban areas which today represents 80% of conflicts. Urban combat is very specific. Partitioned spaces, causing increase in localized fighting with an enemy often scattered among civilian populations.
All new weapon systems are designed for this news form of networked warfare. - Another area we are going to naturally be obliged to intervene, these are the coastal areas. Most human activities are in the coastal zone and therefore most of our interests economic are in the coastal zone. To protect these economic interests, we will have to have the tools that allow to restore our economic interests, impose our will or to go and restore peace.
This tool specific to coastal areas is called BPC. - BPC is the projection building and command. So the projection is indeed the fact to send force to the earth with troops and equipment.
And the commandment corresponds being able to host, welcome and support a General Staff of leading a force of completely variable magnitude. - The missions of the BPCs are quite varied. It's a bit like the Swiss army knife of a naval force.
You have hospital capacity, you have a staff reception capacity or command, therefore computer networks, areas in which we can put desks and computers. You have the ability to implement helicopters. And then a reception capacity and transportation which means that we can very well imagine transport military equipment, but also pallets of humanitarian aid or whatever. In July 2006, the BPC Mistral, barely its last tests carried out, is urgently sent to Lebanon. After setting sail in a few days, it is then used as a platform air and amphibious operations.
Carrying food and relief, it is assigned as a reception area for thousands of refugees which will be transhipped from Beirut to Larnaca. The BPC, at the same time, carries out his command mission French forces deployed in the area. First operation for this building, and first success. - One of the major challenges of this building, is to be able to function with a very small crew.
It is a challenge to have a building weighing just over 22,000 tonnes 200 meters long that works with a crew of 160 sailors. The normal meaning, if you like, on a boat of this size would like us to be between 300 and 500. While on the bridge the helicopter rotations, inside the BPC continues for several days, a command exercise at sea. But how do we prepare the executives of a Joint Staff to a modern conflict? - To do this, we created a fictional continent, with a number of countries, an alliance. And a coalition that will clash. For each of these countries, we invented a story, a population, an economy.
In such a way that we are led to manage the complexity of these political problems, diplomatic, humanitarian relief, economics, media which add to the usual problems land forces with tanks, air forces, planes, bombers and naval forces, submarines and aircraft carriers. This complex scenario is constructed, managed, and animated by simulation software. The officers give orders, make decisions, initiate actions. The simulator executes them, reacts and delivers the results of operations. In addition to military operations all kinds of events or incidents. Political declarations, NGO interventions, attacks, media pressure or public opinions, etc.
- These are more than 1000 incidents which were introduced into the exercise which allowed us to train to the decision-making process and staff techniques. Although it is an exercise, we never forget that we represented the life of more of 50,000 soldiers, men, women and several populations. So when we train, we know it's never a game. - I think this boat is the boat of the moment. It corresponds to an environment geostrategic which is quite characteristic of post-cold war. It is a building which has a very large modularity or flexibility in the execution of its missions and I see a very bright future there.
Designed from the ground up to operate equally well from land than from an aircraft carrier. Versatile, discreet, intelligent, the Rafale alone will replace all fighter planes currently in service. - The more planes have evolved, more intellectual abilities of the pilot to devote himself to his mission task, in relation to its steering task have evolved. A Mirage 3 Basically, you had about 70% to fly the plane and the rest to do the mission. A Rafale is 20% to pilot, the trajectory of the plane and the rest is left to the pilot to make decisions and manage your system.
A Rafale means more time to think and to carry out its mission than to pilot. - It is the gathering of the 6 planes, There, there is one who makes a waiting point, and the other which makes a circuit to the left, that's it ? OK. - We are going to schedule this mission, that is to say we are going to draw the line, we will schedule the moment where we will deliver our weapons, the place. We will program the data link network
within the gust patrol who fly with us. And once what this programming will be completed, we're going to record it on a small cassette that will go on board the plane. This does not mean that the mission is locked since a flight, in real time, you can edit this programming and the plane itself will recalculate everything that is oil, everything is timing on the goal. The Rafale is a super flying computer. - We can go, it's okay, I'll take that. The Rafale F2 is capable of carrying out air-air missions like air-ground missions, attack missions, defense, or reconnaissance.
It is the first multi-purpose aircraft of the Air Force. But it is in the field of sensors that the Rafale proves to be even more innovative. - The main sensor of this aircraft, it is the radar which is integrated in this shell in the front nose of the plane.
It is an electronically scanned radar latest generation, which allows you to point very quickly every corner of space. The second very interesting point, These are the sensors you see there. This is called OSF, Front sector optronics.
This is basically all that allows to see very far. And thanks to that, you see together tens of kilometers exactly on what type of device you are going to be hired, but also when you do an assault on a ground objective and know what you go and deliver your weapons. We have many other sensors which are a little scattered all around the plane and that's what allows for 360 degree coverage around the aircraft to detect for example, therefore know where the threat comes from. And if necessary, to confuse, that is, hindering this threat. It really is a plane that knows exactly what is happening all around him. In this plane, there are 14 hardpoints, on this beam, we can put SCALP missiles, they are cruise missiles, we can put bombs and you have at the end of the wing, 2 infrared MICA missiles.
These are missiles that guide themselves on engine heat. Also a very important point of this plane, it has what is called bond 16, it's a tactical data link. It's a kind of network. It's like a computer network, all the devices of a patrol, whether it is the Rafale or whether it is the AWACS who is the radar plane, all these people chat on the same network. So it's the plane's computer who has a real brain which makes it possible to compile all of these informations.
And it's really a revolution in terms of aerial battles. It's a giant leap that we've made compared to the Mirage 2000 generation. - The Air Force uses a large network which allows its different actors to communicate with each other. This network, which is called the SCCOA, command and control system air operations. It is a network that corresponds to what we call infocentric warfare, which allows this information to be exchanged.
On this network, there are many air force actors. Starting with the Assessment Center Network itself, the true heart of the system. - Here are networked all SCCOA products, to be tested.
This involves networking all contributing equipment to an air operation, so as to present information in real time to all actors. Among the permanent actors of the SCCOA network, we find the CDC, detection and control centers. France has 4 of this type. - We ensure, permanently, H24, the surveillance of national airspace.
And also aircraft control military. All detection centers and control are networked. There is a network that exists. The information is all. Merged by each center and ascent to the decision-making fields, which is the center for conducting operations aerial, located in Taverny, which suits him, depending on the information, assess the threat, and give instructions to take according to the instructions that he can have authorities governmental.
Each symbol represents an aircraft in function of the symbol, either civil traffic, or military traffic. There is therefore a degree of classification which represents the degree of threat what the device can represent. It goes from friendly to hostile, going through a classification doubtful, suspicious. You have here a device that is classified as doubtful, This is a list given by the government who says we need to monitor more especially the devices of this nationality. In distant theaters of operation, we set up fixed-term contracts, deployable command center. Air transportable, it takes no less than 4 hours for such a center to be operational.
The generalization of networks in the forces armies have made the Network itself a new battlefield. In theaters of operations, from now on, several wars are being fought at the same time. Among these, electronic warfare. - Electronic warfare is the whole operations that could be called electromagnetic jamming, storm. Electronic warfare makes it possible to cross the opposing shield.
It's electromagnetic warfare, it's a war of the waves. And then on the other side, we always try to have electronic countermeasures. Electronic warfare is the whole of these operations which aim to prevent the other to see. So indeed it's seen, it's not seen, it's annoying.
This is a tactical phase. How do we prevent the other not to see? How do we deceive him? How do we make ourselves invisible? In any case discreet, furtive. This is where we bring the answers to these questions. This is where we evaluate, where we measure, that we analyze the SER. - SER, here means radar equivalent surface.
It is in fact the signature of a piece of equipment opposite a radar. This diagram represents the energy backscattered by a missile-type target. The target is represented like this. And when the radar comes over the side, we have very significant energy here. From the digitized data, it is possible to make calculations which allow us to rebuild actually a radar image of the measured target.
This diagram represents the evolution of the energy backscattered by the target depending on different angles radar observation. It easily allows us to see that for angles that are close to 90 degrees, we have backscattered energy very important. In an operational context, it is important to reduce the SER since the more stealthy a machine will be or will have low SER, the later it will be detected and the less time there will be to trigger a response. Radar signatures are classified as defense secret, but we can say that that of a stealth frigate like this is equivalent to that of a trawler. Stealth is achieved by the shapes it same smooth and inclined plane compared to radar waves so to disperse them in space.
We can also increase the stealth of a material through the use of materials absorbents or specific paints. Another chapter of electronic warfare, the jamming or how we tell stories to a missile warhead. - We are in an anechoic chamber, that is to say a room without echo. Which constitutes a bench to evaluate missiles and in particular the intelligent part of a missile, that is to say the homing head of the missile. This homing head is actually a small radar which will detect objects, boats, planes and who will measure the distance separating the missile from its target.
This missile has intelligence to avoid precisely to be confused or lured. And that’s precisely what we’re testing. We test intelligence of this searching head to resist jamming or adverse storms.
How do you fool a missile? With lures. Their function is to divert the missile to another heat source than that of the device or the building. Measurement and countermeasure technology.
We imagine it, very secret. What will be the weapons of tomorrow, the equipment, future weapon systems and for what type of conflict. Most certainly always more sensors, remote vision systems, drones and robots always more sophisticated and more intelligent. Always more networks, systems of information and communications. Larger systems of systems, more complex and above all faster to cope with the acceleration of the tempo of battles. But in this increasing complexity, what will be man's part? - The more technology you have, the more we must be aware that man may have difficulty following. And so it is indeed necessary,
every time we add technology, take care so that the human operator can follow this technology. But it is true that the more we arrive towards complex systems, the more the burden ultimately imposed on us, to the operator behind these complex systems, is important. The more we are obliged to watch that this contribution of technology does not limit its action, but rather promotes its action and helps him carry out his action. High technologies, far from replacing man, on the contrary, place it at the center of devices always more efficient.
And it is paradoxically by increasing their capacities for action and decision-making that cutting-edge technologies make the human actor an even more decisive element.
2024-08-20 23:29
