CWID – TAKING A TOP DOWN APPROACH
By Julian Nettlefold
This year’s Coalition Warrior Interoperability Demonstration (CWID) UK took place between the 8th and 26 June at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s (Dstl) Porton Down site. It was the 15th consecutive year of participation for the UK in CWID, and the eighth that it has been hosted by Dstl. CWID is a partnership between industry and the MoD. Run as part of a wider US-led coalition, CWID allows new technology solutions to be trialled in a realistic, real-time environment with existing systems, giving MOD a unique opportunity to work closely with representatives from industry.
Unlike other years where there appeared to be a mishmash of systems under development for a variety of uses, this year’s CWID was a much more focused event and took the visitor through what was in effect an Expeditionary Warfare HQ utilising the most up to date and advanced systems to ensure seamless connectivity, giving the soldier the ability to use information from a variety of portals and servers to give a common and up to date battlefield picture in near real time.
This year CWID hosted 26 trials in the UK and a further 3 trials on Coalition sites. The level of Coalition interoperability has been expanded this year, with UK trials directly interacting with those of the US, NATO, French and other Coalition forces. CWID has the potential to examine interoperability issues from the tactical to strategic level of command, and our objectives this year have been framed carefully by the 2012 NEC Milestone requirement. These covered 5 broad areas: supporting the command function; developing joint battlespace management; developing comprehensive networking across national, international, Other Government Department and Non-Governmental Organisation boundaries; developing information assurance architecture, and de-risking the deployed technical architecture.
Blaythorne
One change this year was the use of the BASE-X range of tentagae supplied by Blaythorne in the U.K.
Base-X® shelters range in size from personal tents to Corps-level Command and Control complexes. Available in 100-, 200-, 300-, 500-, or Dome-series, Base-X shelters of all sizes offer the same level of interconnectivity, durability, and ease of deployment. They are ideally suited for deployed operations and give the user the flexibility required to add additional tentage space to existing structures. Base-X Emergency Response shelters and support systems provide modular and scalable turn-key solutions that support a wide variety of emergency response functions. Base-X shelters are battle-tested by the US military and consistently relied upon to respond with speed and protect with strength. That same speed and strength is available to Local agencies in need of Major Incidence Response Solutions.
Base-X shelters are designed for rapid deployment in any situation. They are easy to erect, take down and store. Proven operationally with US Marine Corps, US Air Force and the Swedish Army, Base-X is the preferred shelter of the FBI, FEMA and the Japanese Fire Department – as well as a number of State and Country resilience agencies.
Blaythorne, the UK agent for BASE-X also had a major exhibit at DVD and will be supplying all tentage needs for the Bisley Owning The Night Event in November.
In the summer of 2006, Oriel Solutions was introduced to Expedition Kit Direct Ltd, and from this moment on, the two companies worked hand in hand in providing solutions to clients operating in hostile and benign environments.
Over the following two years, both companies worked on several large scale procurement and security projects, each providing key capabilities and adding greater capacity to the scope of projects. This included the provision of much needed support to Gloucester County Council in the 2007 floods and several Private Security Companies and NGOs working in Africa, Afghanistan and Iraq.
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