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28 Oct 21. Unmanned tech dominates Turkey’s border security summit. The Retinar radar system, shown during MRBS, is attached to an unmanned ground vehicle. (Courtesy of the Military Radar and Border Security Summit)
ANKARA, Turkey — More than 100 defense companies from around the world descended on Turkey this month as the nation eyes modern solutions to enhance its border protection capabilities.
Attendees of the third Military Radar and Border Security Summit, which took place Oct. 5-6 in Ankara, primarily discussed options to defend against drone assaults using lasers, jamming, kamikaze drones and sensors.
The local Independent Industrialists and Businessmen Association hosted the event, which saw 110 defense and aerospace companies from more than 20 countries showcase their products. Additionally, high-level officials, including ministers, ambassadors and representatives from the defense industry, attended MRBS.
Turkey’s top procurement official, Ismail Demir, underlined the importance of 24/7 monitoring of the country’s border to prevent unauthorized refugee crossings, terrorist activity and smuggling. “For continuous monitoring and surveillance, integrated security solutions, including sophisticated electronic sensor systems, are required in this context. [The Presidency of Defence Industries] will continue to work in this field in accordance with the needs and expectations of user authorities,” he said in a speech at the summit.
Defense News spoke to the senior member of MRBS’ organizing committee, Koray Tuncer, about the event’s highlights.
“The main goal of MRBS is to bring the most recent developments in border security to the forefront. We also aim to provide a platform for those who manufacture the most recent technologies in this field to meet with senior decision-makers and technology experts in the armed forces, gendarmerie and police. Developing export opportunities is one of the purposes of this summit,” Tuncer said.
He added that contracts and memorandums of understanding were signed during the summit, but he was unable to discuss the deals in detail due to security concerns.
Tech trends
Turkish defense analyst Ozgur Eksi told Defense News that unmanned technology as well as soft- and hard-kill measures against drones dominated the summit.
“The security of military forces serving along the border was the most discussed topic at the event. Drones and manned assaults are the two main sorts of threats to the border units. Unmanned threats are primarily improvised UAVs employed for reconnaissance or attack objectives by terrorist organizations. These are small-sized, short-range devices that are becoming increasingly resistant to jamming, are quiet due to their electric motor and use simple autopilots. As a result, they are incredibly difficult to detect, particularly at night,” explained Eksi, who also founded news outlet TurDef.
Unmanned technology dominated the showroom floor and general focus of MRBS. (Courtesy of the Military Radar and Border Security Summit)
For instance, he said, Turkish companies Havelsan and Transvaro developed an integrated detection system that employs several sensors — using radars, electro-optical systems and related software — to provide area protection against manned and unmanned threats.
Another key topic of the summit was the use of vertical-takeoff-and-landing drones for transferring supplies to border forces.
“There may be some risks associated with the shipment [to] such units by land, particularly in places where a terrorist threat exists. Transportation within the capacity of VTOL UAVs will ensure faster and safer logistics support, as well as support reconnaissance and surveillance tasks during deployment,” Eksi said.
Also vital to effective border security is coordination among forces through actions and communication. Among some of the products on display at MRBS were network-based systems meant to fulfill that requirement and tackle asymmetric threats.
Local company Meteksan Defence, which created technology already fielded by border security forces, has been partnering with other businesses to meet government needs. Burak Akbas, the company’s sales, marketing and corporate reputation director, specifically pointed to the Retinar radar system currently under use for human detection and recognition in border regions. Based on that technology, Meteksan has taken its radar and combined it with a machine gun made by local firm Unidef.
Investments
Turkey’s investments along its border have primarily focused on air and ground surveillance to fill detection and security gaps. Its wall created along the Iran border is supported by electro-optical sensors, radars and UAVs to combat illegal immigration and drug smuggling.
Turkey’s largest defense company, Aselsan, provided the Midas detection system, which uses underground fiber-optic cables to detect, analyze and share information on border violations. Its acoustic detection capability also monitors border crossing attempts via underground tunnels.
Turkey’s top procurement official, Ismail Demir, underlined the importance of constantly monitoring border crossing during MRBS. (Courtesy of the Military Radar and Border Security Summit)
The government also procured Aselsan’s Karagoz aerostat surveillance system for the southern Hatay province across from Syria’s northwestern city of Idlib. The system can scan an area of 3 square miles with its mounted wide-area surveillance camera.
Additionally, Turkey’s Interior Ministry recently awarded Ares a contract for 122 coastal defense boats. The shipyard completed trials and began mass production this month.
The government also purchased 57 Ates armored vehicles from local business Katmerciler, as well as 82 Cobra II armored vehicles from Otokar. The European Union’s funding mechanism “Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance” paid for these vehicles. Between 2014 and 2016, the EU provided Turkey with about €158m (U.S. $184m) for border security. (Source: Defense News)
19 Oct 21. Additive Manufacturing’s impact on military logistics yet to be fully embraced conference hears. ©Additive Manufacturing (AM) – commonly known as 3D-Printing – has been identified as a technology that could significantly reduce the logistic footprint of armed forces deployed on missions. As part of its work to enhance the use of AM in the armed forces, EDA supported the first European Military Additive Manufacturing Symposium which took place in Bonn, Germany on 12-13 October. The conference heard that AM offers unique opportunities for the armed forces especially in logistic support, but its advantages are yet to be fully embraced within the military and faces several hurdles impeding fuller implementation in defence.
In his keynote speech to the 2-day event, EDA Deputy Chief Executive, Olli Ruutu spoke on how EDA supports its Member States in their efforts to employ AM by sustaining newest technical developments and the necessary elaboration of common standards to enhance interoperability.
“AM technologies can be highly promising for enhancing defence capabilities such Logistic Support for Deployed Forces in remote or hostile environments. Having AM technologies in the area of operation might significantly impact the course of CSDP missions. Time between failure and restoring the availability of platforms, transportation and storage of significant quantities of spares can be decreased, reducing the logistic footprint of an operation” Mr. Ruutu said.
He also pointed to the important transfer of EDA’s work on AM from research and technology to capability development.
Additive Manufacturing for Logistic Support (AMLS)
Building on the results of its 2018 R&T project on AM, a new project, Additive Manufacturing for Logistic Support (AMLS) was launched by EDA within the area of Capability Development. Eight areas of activities were identified for this project, including technology aspects, training and education, as well as procurement processes. The ultimate objective is to elaborate and determine solutions in the eight areas which will foster the cooperation and enhance the interoperability among participants.
A dedicated panel on Best Practice, moderated by EDA, addressed some of the practicalities and hurdles for the AMLS project to overcome. The panel underscored the distinction that AM is not a capability shortfall but an important skill which has the potential to reduce the logistics footprint. Two EDA supported R&T projects were also presented in this panel, which are aiming to enhance the performances of ballistic protections and energic material development for AM respectively.
Emergence of Circular Economy and AM
A second panel discussion also moderated by EDA, discussed the emergence of AM as one of the key contributors to the circular economy. The event heard how AM is a means to intensify the use of materials and expand systems’ lifetime by providing on-demand solutions for repair, remanufacturing and recycling. The panel also pointed to EDA’s new Incubation Forum on Circular Economy in European Defence (IF CEED) to create common initiatives to make the most of AM’s potential for circularity: both technical and logistics aspects will be addressed in the next two years.
A first European AM Symposium
The conference was organed by the German Association for Defence Technology (DWT) and supported by EDA. Attended by over 160 representatives of industry, armed forces, academia and institutions, the event offered a unique European overview on the rapid development of AM in industry and opportunities on offer for military.
(Source: EDA)
27 Oct 21. UK MOD host international AI Defence partnership forum. 16 nations are collaborating and sharing global best practice in adopting artificial intelligence (AI) to deal with defence and security challenges. The UK Ministry of Defence hosted the fourth AI Partnership for Defence (AI PfD) dialogue, becoming the first nation outside the US to host the forum which brings together like-minded defence partners to discuss respective policies, approaches, challenges and solutions in adopting AI-enabled capabilities.
The partnership, which expanded from 13 to 16 nations in May, was launched by the US Department of Defense (DoD) Joint AI Centre (JAIC) in 2020 to collaborate and share global best practice. The importance of the reoccurring forum was underlined by the recent US national security commission on AI that reported to Congress earlier this year. Equally AI was highlighted in the UK’s Integrated Review where the Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced at least £6.6bn for research and development (R&D) enabling more research into AI and related areas.
General Sir Patrick Sanders, the head of UK Strategic Command, said:
By bringing together 16 like-minded nations to discuss AI, this partnership opens an essential international dialogue that benefits our collective Defence and promotes a common vision for the responsible use of AI.
The UK delegation includes representatives from the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), the new Defence AI Centre and the Defence AI and Autonomy Unit with UK participation coordinated by the British Defence Staff in Washington DC. The 2-day event focused on AI governance, and considered the role of organisational strategies, policies, standards, regulation and risk management frameworks in both providing assurance, and enabling innovation.
Steve Meers, head of Dstl’s AI Centre, said: “The AI partnership is a vitally important initiative that builds on a growing set of international nations coming together to ensure we are all clear and agree on the responsible application of AI, and to support one another as we deal with global defence and security challenges.”
The event follows Dstl’s virtual AI Fest 4, which ran a ‘trustworthy AI’ theme including more than 110 talks over 2 days and 50 spotlight talks on demand. (Source: https://www.gov.uk/)
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AOC Europe
AOC Europe connects organisations and individuals across government, defence, industry, and academia to promote the exchange of ideas and information, and review the latest advances in electromagnetic and information-related fields. With a history spanning more than 25 years, AOC Europe is the Association of Old Crows’ flagship international event with 70+ manufacturers and 1000+ attendees from 40+ countries coming together to engage, innovate and network and to discuss all things within this dedicated sector.
Our 2022 conference theme:
Integrating Electromagnetic Effects across all Domains
The control of the electromagnetic spectrum is a fundamental requirement in modern warfare in all domains whether land, sea air, space, information or cyber. Systems operating in these domains must be able to communicate, make decisions, share information and take actions in a coordinated, controlled and effective manner using the electromagnetic spectrum.
To achieve and maintain this dominance, electronic warfare, radar, navigation, situational awareness and other information and communication systems require significant levels of integration and interoperability across all types of platforms and in all domains. Innovative integrated systems requirements, applications and enabling technologies will be considered from intelligence data gathering, analysis and data fusion through to the deployment of countermeasures and other actions that use the electromagnetic spectrum.
For more details on exhibiting/sponsoring, submitting a paper or attending the event visit www.aoceurope.org