In his Commentary series, Howard Wheeldon occasionally used to write a ‘miscellany’ piece. Below is the first in a series of ‘spotlight’ pieces, which shine a light on some of the interesting things that are going on in the aerospace and defence sector. If you have any suggestions for inclusion in future spotlights, please mail me via
BFBS
For many service personnel and their families, British Forces Broadcasting Service – BFBS has provided the soundtrack to their military life. From its first radio broadcast for troops stationed in Algiers in 1943, through the post-war era and the launch of BFBS TV in Germany in 1975, BFBS has connected our forces with families and friends back home. Since then BFBS has evolved, as technology has advanced, so that today it operates around the world and across a wide range of media. The generation of personnel who are now serving receive their media via their phones, or the internet. They will find BFBS there too.
But personnel who are deployed on operations cannot always receive any media, either because of operational needs, lack of connectivity or due to the remoteness of their posting, such as at sea or in an austere Forward Operating Base. BFBS has managed to overcome many technical challenges to ensure that our forces are kept in touch with developments at home. This ranges from news to premier league soccer.
One of the many challenges that face service chiefs is the matter of recruitment and retention. The process of training members of our armed forces is a complex matter nowadays. The MOD is the largest provider of apprenticeships in the UK. Most technically trained personnel receive a qualification which makes them very employable in the civilian world. So retention, and morale, are no longer just matters for the welfare officer and the padre. In the battle for talent the MOD needs to reassure its personnel that they matter. BFBS is a key element in this.
In the bureaucratic wrangling over the defence budget, ministers would do well to remember the words of Napoleon; “In war, the moral is to the physical as three is to one.” Even in the UK, BFBS provides a service to families of deployed personnel that they won’t get from mainstream broadcasters. It should be remembered that many ‘peacetime’ postings are in remote locations, often away from the main centres of population. UK forces deployed in Estonia have access to BFBS services, as do personnel at sea. In the age of disinformation it is even more important that personnel on operations and their families have access to reliable reporting.
BFBS operates as a military charity and a media organisation, with all of the necessary governance this requires. With an annual budget of £30 million and a staff of just 270 globally, BFBS represents very good value for the taxpayer’s pound. Not only this, but BFBS itself invests in several charitable endeavours to support our service personnel, their families, and veterans. Examples of this are, the BFBS Big Salute which awards grants to projects undertaken by armed forces charities, funding for military sports, and the BFBS Welfare Fund which supports military personnel and their families.
All of this helps to augment the ‘social value’ required by its present contract, but it shows no sign of slowing down. As with any organisation involved in the media, it is continuously innovating as new platforms and means of delivering programme content emerge. Wherever they are in the world, our armed forces can look forward to BFBS keeping them in the picture.
Flarebright
In the very contested arena of information and communications, the question of how to operate in a GPS denied environment is of paramount importance. Flarebright may have the answer. Flarebright represents the sort of innovative approach that will characterise defence industry in the future. Those companies that have the agility to adapt and innovate as technology evolves will be those who will play an increasing role in the defence sector.
There have already been episodes of GPS ‘spoofing’ which can affect both military and civil aviation. It is recognised by military sources that one of the first acts of a hostile power, in a Hybrid warfare scenario, would be to disable or distract allied GPS signals. The GPS system relies on a constellation of just 33 satellites, and is considered vital for the accuracy of Precision Guided Munitions (PGMs) which help to give NATO forces the edge over a numerically superior force.
Kelvin Hamilton who is CEO of Flarebright originally explored the possibilities of GPS free navigation with his earlier company, Seebyte. The solution uses software based Inertial Navigation Systems (INS). Since this time the UAV / drone space has started booming. Initially the drone space didn’t need a GPS free capability as they were linked to a base station. Now longer range is needed.
Kelvin explained that with any existing INS, there is a ‘run away’ risk where a small error can lead to the UAV diverging from its intended track. Flarebright has solved this problem. This means that any platform equipped with Flarebright INS software can operate in a GPS denied environment. The implication for military and other agencies is significant.
Flarebright has already received funding from the UK MOD’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) and DSTL, and Innovate UK as well as the US Army. The outbreak of war in Ukraine and the surge in demand for drones has super charged the demand for GPS free technology. The technology has been successfully tested over sea, where many other systems require land based cues.
Flarebright’s GPS free software is platform agnostic, it can be installed into any system. In the civil arena there is a lot of interest in the possibilities offered for such things as drone delivery of medical supplies. Customers can buy a software license and use the system.
April 2019 was the moment that Flarebright caught the attention of the military, and the subsequent outbreak of war in Ukraine brought more attention to the possibility of GPS free operations. The defence sector needs this kind of solution, but there are also civil applications in aviation and other areas, as a back up to GPS.
It must be hoped that the MOD will recognize the value of this system, and support the future development of the software INS. Flarebright owns all of the intellectual copyright which means that future development can only benefit the UK and its allies.